A Furyan Lost
by Midnight Starshine
Summary: Chara and Aria are two seemingly normal girls transported into a world they never thought could have existed. Caught in a fight for survival, Chara begins to discover new things about herself and a strange connection to a convicted murderer. Will Riddick be able to shed some light on her mysterious origins, or will he abandon her to her fate? And who is the woman in her dreams?
1. Chapter 1

We stood outside in the pouring rain, drenched to the bone. The winds blew the rain and it came down at a slant. I watched the skies, waiting for a funnel cloud, breathing in the smell of a storm. Aria stood next to me, exclaiming and pointing to a big crack of lightning. We shared a passion for thunderstorms, but tornado warnings set me on edge. Sirens blared around us, warning us of danger, but so far I had not seen anything even remotely harmful. My hair whipped around my face, the long black locks tying themselves into nasty snarls. I lifted my arm and pushed my hair from my eyes, turning to Aria. "We should head back inside before we get sucked into Oz," I said, just as the wind blew harder.

"Why, are you scared?" she questioned teasingly. I just rolled my eyes and walked back to the door.

"I simply do not wish to die out here, and I certainly do not want to wear gaudy red heels and drag a bunch of misfits around so we can kill a wicked witch," I defended, flinging my hands around to help my point. She looked at me with a blank expression, her head tilted slightly to the side. "Really Aria? You haven't even seen The Wizard of Oz? It's a classic!"

"Unlike some people, I do have a life. One that doesn't involve watching every movie ever made," she huffed, flicking her short blonde hair. I just laughed and turned back to the door, my hand gripping the golden knob. I tried to turn it, but it wouldn't budge. I huffed in aggravation, twisting it in the other direction. The stupid door has been difficult ever since I can remember. Everyone else has no trouble with it, but it seemed to hate me. My hand slipped a little as I twisted the doorknob this way and that, but the stupid thing wouldn't open. I got angry and threw my hands up in exasperation. I let out a frustrated yell and glared at Aria when she laughed at me. She walked past me and I backed up as she opened the door for me. "Its sad when I can open the door to your house and you can't," she said.

"It is," I agreed. Aria swung open the door with ease, leaving it open behind her. I stepped in, scanning my living room's sparse furniture. My home was not very big, it only had three tiny bedrooms and a bath and a half. The half bath was in the basement though, and really rancid, so it was never used.

There was a small love seat and one recliner in front of an old television set. My XBox lay right next to the T.V. and a huge front window let in light. Aria plopped down on the dark blue loveseat and made herself comfy. Oscar, my fat black and grey cat, waddled into the room. He stared at me for a moment before I picked him up and snuggled him. He growled at me and I chuckled as I set him down.

"Can you make popcorn? If we're gonna watch another movie then I want my movie snacks," Aria complained. I had finally dragged her over for a movie marathon, and she showed no gratitude to me for sharing the wonders of recorded entertainment. My parents were out at some wedding reception, and I didn't want to be here alone. Don't get me wrong, I have no problem being alone, but I was bored and decided to force my cousin and best friend to enjoy a few movies. To be honest, I usually prefered solitude, but today was a fluke.

I crossed from the dingy white carpet to the fake linoleum tiles. I grabbed a bag of popcorn and tossed it into the microwave, hitting the popcorn button and watching the bag spin. I sighed and drifted off into lala land when suddenly the house shifted and groaned. I balanced myself on the countertop and looked at Aria. She stared back at me as I turned to look past her out my livingroom window.

It looked like a typhoon out there. Not that I really knew what a typhoon looked like, but rain was falling horizontally, and the maple trees in my front yard bent and swayed horribly. The poor old house continued to shake and lean while the wood made awful sounds of protest. And before I could react, a chunk of the roof tore off of the kitchen ceiling, exposing me to the hash weather. I held on to the fridge handles as the wind took pieces of paper and other small objects. A pen whizzed past my face, slicing my cheek. I distantly heard Aria scream my name, but a sudden clap of thunder deafened me. Lightning had struck the house, and the lights exploded around me. I watched in horror as a beam from the roof came falling towards me. I let go of the fridge as I tried to get away, but my foot caught on a chair and I tripped, barely feeling the beam as it smacked me in the head. I had just a moment of pain before everything faded to black.

I groaned and held my head as a major migraine stabbed me in the back of my skull. My eyes fluttered open and I immediately regretted trying to see. Bright light burned my eyes, causing even more pain to my already tortured brain. I dropped my hands into the sand and pushed myself up. 'Wait, sand?'

I slowly looked around at the desert around me, way in the distance I saw some brown building thing, but little else. The area around me was barren as far as the eye could see, and the only landmarks were what looked like tall anthills. They were relatively near the brown thing, but I still couldn't make out any details. The air was dry, and I tried to breathe but my lungs burnt with effort. Maybe I got sucked into that tornado and one of my lungs collapsed. I gasped, maybe I'm in a coma at some hospital and this is my mind's way of dealing with it! I shook my head, if that were the case, wouldn't the nurses have put me on some kind of pain relief? Or were they some kind of sick sadists that like watching comatose patients suffer. I rubbed my temples in frustration, thinking was getting me nowhere, and it hurt.

Rustling behind me roused my attention back to the present, and I slowly turned my head. My heart hammered in my chest, my breathing becoming erratic, I practically radiated fear. I could hear my pulse in my ears, and when I finally looked behind me, I saw Aria.

"Aria!" I exclaimed, my own volume causing me to wince. I crawled over to her as she shifted in her sleep. Behind her in the distance I saw another odd brown building, but dismissed it in favor of looking over my cousin. She mumbled in her sleep, and I shook her, attempting to wake her. She grumbled something again and rolled over. I poked her in the back repeatedly until he eyes slowly opened. She sat up and turned to look at me, carefully rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

"Where are we?" she asked. I shrugged my shoulders and looked around. Noticing for the first time, not two, but three suns. This place was like nothing I had ever seen before, it was all so strange. The difficulty breathing, the desert landscape, and the three suns, it was all so eerie. This place was like none other on Earth.

I stood up and helped Aria to her feet. She looked dumbstruck, and she looked over the landscape in confusion. I looked between the two brown things, noticing the one behind Aria was closer.

I nudged Aria to gain her attention, and she turned to look at me. "Lets go see what that thing is and if there are any people around," I said, walking towards the closer brown thing. Aria followed behind me, practically breathing down my neck with her proximity.

We walked for what felt like ages, my legs burning and my chest heaving in exhaustion. The suns were unmerciful and dreadfully hot. As a Wisconsin girl, I couldn't handle the heat well. The sand shifted beneath us, and it felt like we were endlessly walking, but never getting closer to our goal. 'I wonder if this is what cattle feel like?' I asked myself.

Finally we made it to the brown thing. It was smoking in some places, and had torn metal in others. A chunk was missing and we walked into it, noticing the wires buzzing and sparking from the walls. They looked like they were ripped off, and burn marks could be seen all over the brown metal walls. The entire thing smelled like burned rubber and gas, and it made my head dizzy.

Our shoes echoed on the grate walkway as we explored the area. I ran my hand over the metal wall, leaning on its cool surface. To me, it looked like a piece of a spaceship, but human space travel was no where near this advanced. It actually looked like a piece of Serenity. But that was just a show, there was no way this was a piece of a crashed UFO, right?

I wandered over to Aria and looked over her shoulder. There were crates and boxes everywhere, clothes and other personal items scattered around on the floor. It looked like a cargo hold. This all made no sense, why would there be a cargo hold out in a desert?

I was mulling over different theories when Aria's quiet voice interrupted me. "Maybe an airplane crashed, and we got moved because of the wind," she offered.

"No," I shook my head. "This isn't like an airplane, but we should go to the other part to find out," I paused for a moment as a thought struck me, "Oh, and if we do meet people, we are stowaways okay?"

"Why?" she asked.

"You can never be too careful, and no one would believe us if we told them the truth. First we were hanging out at my house, and the next thing you know we are in a desert. Sounds crazy," I explained. Aria nodded her head in understanding, and we quickly navigated our way out of the cargo hold. I held my hand to my forehead, trying to create shade as we stepped out into the light, and began our walk to the other piece of our messed up puzzle.

**Please share your thought with me! Even if they are angry and harsh, I'd still love some feedback! **


	2. Chapter 2

**I totally forgot to do this with the last chapter: I do NOT own****_ Pitch Black_****, I don't own the totally awesome script, or the really amazing characters. None of it is mine! I claim NOTHING! The only thing I own is my mind. Oh, and the rating changed because I wanted to follow the original script in some places, and it has some 'strong language'.**

Again it felt like we were on an endless death march, and my feet dragged slightly as I walked. My body begged for water, and I felt starved of oxygen. There was a slight shimmer on the sand in front of us, and I just waited for the cliche mirage to pop up with an oasis. My breathing was labored, and I shivered as a drop of sweat glided down my neck and onto my back. God this was awful. I looked into the sky and silently willed a cloud to appear and block out at least _one_ of the suns, this was getting ridiculous!

We walked in a scar in the land, it looked to be a skid mark from when the ship crashed. Or at least that was the most logical explanation for the chunks of metal and wires that littered the area. Black smoke would rise out of some of the bigger pieces, and the air smelled like burned rubber and smoke. I kicked a piece of tubing out of my way and Aria picked up a piece of cloth from the ground. We exchanged worried glances before turning back to stare at the bigger part of the wreckage. I waited anxiously for someone to come out of there, but it was hard to see into the distance with the glare of the sun on the sand.

Slowly a black figure faded into sight in the distance, and I picked up my speed with renewed vigor. The black blob got clearer, and it seemed to pick something out of the sand. It threw the object down violently, then stalked off towards a group of what I hoped were people.

Aria saw them too, and I heard her breathe a sigh of relief. We watched as the group moved into the other part of the crashed object. I got nervous for a moment, _'What if these people aren't normal, what if they are psycho murderers who wear your skin as clothing and eat the flesh from your bones so they could carve them into knives?_' I shuddered as I thought of my tan skin as someone else's pajama bottoms. I was wary of approaching them, but we really didn't have any choice, these were the only other people we had found, and we would not last long out here by ourselves.

I felt Aria rush past me, and watched as she tripped in the sand. I stifled a giggle as I walked over to her and offered my hand. She took one look at my smirk and turned her head away with a 'hmph', she ignored my awaiting hand and stood up herself.

"I didn't trip," she started, "I simply thought I saw something on the ground!" This time I openly laughed. Her face was scrunched up into a pout, and she turned her head away from me, a slight blush staining her cheeks.

"Of course," I managed to choke out. "Just be careful, or after your next trip, I'll have to see you next fall!" I broke out into a fit of giggles, it was a super lame joke but I couldn't help myself. Elementary students probably found it hilarious, but the pun was as old as the dirt under our feet. I felt like a total dork for saying it, but the moment was perfect for it and I couldn't pass up the chance. It broke the lingering tension in me, and I felt better after I had a good laugh.

I quickly caught up to her, wiping at my eye to get rid of a tear that threatened to escape after I laughed too hard. I walked behind her, and I touched her shoulder to get her attention back. She kept her back to me, displaying her anger at my mirth. I know she doesn't like getting teased, but right now she was just being a big drama queen.

"What?" she growled out, refusing to face me as she continued marching away.

"Remember what I said, we don't know these people, and we don't know where we are," I said, all traces of my joking mood gone from my voice as I said this to her. Aria turned her whole body around to look at me, then she nodded and I continued, "They could be psychos, so try not to anger them, but at the same time don't get too close to anyone. Anything could happen, and now we only have each other to rely on."

Aria nodded and we continued walking, albeit at a slower pace due to Aria's new found skepticism. She never thought of the dangers, she always ran ahead without thinking and it got her into trouble more times than I can count. She was blissfully ignorant to the horrors of the world, and it really worried me. And maybe I was more paranoid than the average person, but I always played it safe, Aria just ran head first into everything. I reached into my bra and felt for the folding knife I always kept there. It wasn't much, but it was better than nothing. As a child, Aria was bullied and pushed around because of her kindness, and so I took it upon myself to always protect her. I had taken self-defense classes at first, then moved to kickboxing, taekwondo, and jujitsu. I excelled at every form of martial arts, and my affinity for weapons made learning weapons handling easy. I worked out daily, and I trained hard for the day that Aria got herself into something way over her head. She just had awful luck like that.

As we got closer to the wreckage, I could faintly hear voices. They were hard to understand, but if I concentrated I could make out what they were saying. It was difficult to separate the voices from the sounds of them rummaging through something, but what I did hear did not sound good.

"Well, what's the point, anyway? If the man's gone, he's gone. Why should he bother us?" a squeaky man's voice questioned. He sounded like he had a British accent, but I couldn't be sure.

"Maybe to take what you got," another male voice responded, but this one was more masculine and had a southern twang to it. "Maybe to work your nerves, and maybe he'll come back, and just skull-fuck you in your sleep." I heard rustling and thumping from inside, so they must have closed something, or hit something, it didn't really matter.

"Sounds like a charmer," a female voice chimed in, she sounded Australian and her remark was undoubtedly sarcastic.

I wondered at that for a moment, was there someone dangerous out here? They wouldn't be saying crap like that about a saint so they must be worried about whoever this person was would be coming back for them. I looked over at Aria to see if she heard them too, but the look on her face was ignorant of what had just happened. I nudged her and mouthed 'be careful' before we entered the 'ship'.

I heard footsteps come near us, and as we rounded a corner Aria ran into someone. "Oh! Sorry love, I didn't see you there," the Australian sounding woman said. She was a tall lady, and she had curly dark brown hair that was pulled behind her at the top. She wore a lot of leather, and she had pretty silver beads around her neck. She had her hands on Aria's shoulders to keep her from falling down, and she looked at her with concern. Aria looked startled, and a little scared, but she managed to regain her balance. "Now who might you two be? I ain't seen you before, and I thought we found all the other survivors."

"We are stowaways!" Aria blurted. I mentally smacked myself in the forehead, of course she had to make it sound suspicious. I noticed though, that as Aria blurted that out, another woman walked up behind the first, and winced at what Aria had said. She looked down for a moment, and even after she picked her head up she didn't look at us for a while. It seemed to me that she was hiding something, you don't avoid eye contact like that unless you are really, painfully shy, or you have a secret.

"Huh, well doesn't matter now! I'm Shazza, and it's nice to meet you," the tall leather clad woman said. Her name was kinda odd to me, but who was I to judge, mine was Chara. Aria shook hands with Shazza and introduced us, she seemed much less skittish now, and actually managed a small smile at the woman. Shazza looked behind her and noticed the blonde woman standing there. "And this is our captain and life saver, Carolyn Fry." She motioned her head at the blonde woman and I took a moment to observe Carolyn. She had short, dirty blonde hair and a nice round face. She was average height, and she seemed nice, but her cloths were strange. She had a tight shirt thing that zipped up in the front, and barely reached past her belly button. Faded grey jeans clung tightly to her legs, and she had a brown belt with some small tools attached to it. She didn't exactly look like a captain, but maybe that was just the lack of a colorful talking bird on her shoulder.

"Just call me Fry," our 'captain' said. She didn't really look us in the eye long before she walked past us and outside. I watched her as she left, she was definitely hiding something.

"C'mon love, you gotta meet the others," Shazza said as she lead us further into ship. There were broken beams everywhere, and these strange neon blue tubes lining the ceiling. It was pretty dark in here, but it felt good to be out of the sun for a while. I had a feeling I would be burned and as red as a lobster by the time whatever this is, is over.

Aria and Shazza chatted as we walked, but I kept my attention on our surroundings. I didn't trust anyone, and Aria was already doing what I told her not to, she was making friends. In any survivor movie ever created, people died, sometimes a lot of people, sometimes only a few. But the point was that Aria was gonna be devastated when people started dropping. She was too kind to everyone, her heart was too big and she got hurt too easily. If this ended as bad as I thought it was going to, then we would be lucky if we survived this.

A noise behind me caught my attention, and I felt someone sneaking up behind me. I continued walking, and waited for their approach. I felt a hot breath on my neck, and a hand reached around me, holding something. I quickly turned around, grabbing whoever it was by the wrist, and yanked their arm behind their back. I heard a clatter as whatever they were holding dropped to the floor and I pulled their arm higher before I heard a yelp of pain.

"Let him go," Aria said behind me, her hands on my shoulders. "He's just a boy, he was only kidding."

I backed off and looked the kid over. He had short brown hair, and wore a grey paperboy hat. He had an ugly brown striped and randomly patterned shirt on and both his shirt and pants were too big. He dressed like a boy, but his face was pretty like a girl's. He had a stunned expression on his face as he rubbed his arm. I suddenly felt really bad. "Look, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you," I apologized, scratching the back of my neck sheepishly.

"Dude, you got skills!" the boy exclaimed. I was definitely surprised. He was practically bouncing up and down with excitement. "I'm Jack, who're you?"

"Chara," I answered, a little unsure with his behavior. I could have broke his arm and yet here he was, all smiles and sunshine. It was a little unnerving. I pointed to Aria when I noticed his attention on her. "And this is my cousin Aria."

He turned back to me and stared at me with sparkles in his eyes and I heard Aria giggle in the background. "Do you think you could teach me some moves?" Jack asked.

I looked at Aria and then Shazza, and they both shrugged their shoulders. "I can't see why not." I watched as he bounded away, clearly happy. I just shook my head and followed Aria and Shazza when they continued on.

Next we met Zeke, Shazza's husband. He was really dark skinned, with a scraggly beard and black hair speckled with grey. He had the same accent as Shazza, and he seemed like a nice, uninteresting man. He had a dark green long sleeve shirt over a white long sleeve shirt. His cloths were big on him, and they made him look poor. Maybe he and Shazza were poor, but her leather outfit didn't_ look_ cheap.

After him we met Paris, he was the squeaky voice I heard before. He was tall and lanky, the more studious type. He had small wire glasses that were cracked and a little bent, and short dark hair. His cloths were interesting though, he wore a reddish robe thing, and stripped pants underneath it. He was a mouse of a man, and was carrying a large amount of booze with him. For some reason he irritated me, and I wouldn't be surprised if he complained a lot.

And that was when we met Johns. He was what Shazza called a police officer, and he definitely dressed the part. But there was something off about him, his eyes were hungry, and he walked with an air of superiority. He had curly, light brown or dark blonde hair, and he could have been good looking if he didn't give me the creeps. I didn't like the way he was looking at me or Aria, and if I didn't have any self control I might have just punched him right in the face. Aria didn't seem to get the same feeling though, because she was all blushing and bashful around him. She introduced herself, and she acted all sweet and when he held his hand out to shake it, she didn't seem to mind when he held on a bit longer than necessary.

"So if she is Aria, then you must be Chara. Charming name," he greeted, holding out his hand for me to shake.

I looked at it distastefully before taking it, a fake smile plastered on my face. "I must be," I responded. I noticed a slight tick in his jaw, like he noticed my disliking of him. Yet he still held my hand longer than necessary, just like Aria. When he looked back at Aria I wiped my hand on my pants, trying to get rid of his sweaty palm and sleazy look.

"I hope you two will be careful, we seem to have found ourselves with a criminal on the loose," Johns commented, looking between us.

Aria opened her mouth to speak, but I interrupted her, "Really, Officer, and what do you plan to do about that?"

He glared at me for a second before he too plastered a fake smile on his face. "I am in the midst of tracking him now, Chara," he purred my name, and I did not like it. I really wanted to jab my fingers in his eyes then storm away, dragging Aria behind me. But that would be rude.

"And what has this prisoner done?" Aria butted in. She broke the tension, but I still wanted to kill him somehow. Probably slowly and painfully. Like with a rock or something.

"He has murdered more people than you can count, and has escaped from several maximum security prisons," Johns started, walking around me and Aria slowly, like we were some kind of prey. "He'd kill you without a second thought, and he'd probably enjoy it. But hey, I'll protect you." He had his hand on Aria's shoulder, and he whispered the last part in her ear. If I didn't have the excellent hearing I did, I might have missed it completely. Aria was blushing like an idiot, and I grit my teeth in frustration. Why couldn't she see him for the creep he is?

"No thanks," I said, pulling Aria away from him. "I think we'll be fine."

I grabbed her arm as we walked away, Shazza not far behind us. I felt his eyes glaring into my back, and I was so tempted to flip him the bird while I stalked off. My grip unconsciously tightened on Aria's arm, and she made a small noise of protest. I stopped and turned to her, questions burning in her eyes. I mumbled an apology before letting her go and setting back off to go outside. I heard Aria talking to Shazza as they followed, but at this point I really didn't care anymore. I was once again mumbling, but this time it was curses and hateful words spoken under my breath. I don't know what it is about that guy, but he really ticks me off. Maybe it was the way he looked at us, but it felt like it went deeper than that. There was something off about him, and he almost reminded me of those druggies from Milwaukee. I don't understand how everyone else trusts him so easily, even Shazza didn't do anything about his unwanted attention. Of course, he was acting as a police officer, so maybe that had something to do with everyone's easy won faith. I grumbled some more about this stupid desert, its three suns, and no water. I just wanted a blue icee dammit!

As we got outside, pain once more shot through my eyes as they tried to adjust to the sudden brightness. I felt like I was stuck in a dryer, there was no humidity at all and it really took a lot out of me. The sand reflected the light, and for a moment I was worried it would blind me, but alas I saw some figures a ways away from us and decided I probably couldn't go blind just because something is too bright for comfort. There looked to be about four of them, and it almost looked like they were praying. I turned and looked at Shazza, asking her who they were.

"That's Imam and his boys. Ali, Hassan, and Sulieman, they're Chrislams on their way to New Mecca," Shazza informed me. I nodded my head in thanks, and watched as she walked away. Aria looked between me and her and I smiled at her, giving her approval to follow Shazza. I was worried about these Chrislams, not only did they seem to have a strange name and concept, but they could turn into the religious fanatics that cause the deaths of others. Kinda like in the movie The Mist, when that lady created a cult and tried to sacrifice a child or whatever.

I continued to watch them warily and listen to their Adhan, when footsteps started coming towards me. Jacks voice cut through my thought, "Why are you dressed so funny?"

I looked down at myself, I didn't think I looked strange. I had light blue, bell-bottom jeans on that had holes in the knees with cute bleached circles here and there. For a top I had a simple grey wife-beater and, while I admit, it did have some sweat stains on it, it hugged my body in all the right places. I had a simple onyx pendant on a long silver chain wrapped around my neck, and my hair was up in a messy bun. My nails were painted a metallic grey, and I had one silver ring on my middle finger. My shoes were relatively normal too, they were converse knockoffs with the original black and white coloring. I definitely looked normal.

I looked over at Aria, she didn't look unusual either. She wore dark blue shorts that clung to her legs, but came down to just above her knees. She had a purple graphic tee on with some colorful jelly bracelets. There weren't a ton of them, but a good range of colors that tied in with her shirt. She had actual converse on her feet, but hers were purple. To me she kinda looked like one of those weird swag people with their sideways hats, but she told me before that she just likes the vibrant colors.

"What do you mean?" I questioned, not understanding what Jack was getting at. I sat down in the sand and Jack sat next to me.

"Well, I've never seen a shirt like your friend is wearing, and your pants kinda look funny," he replied. I must have looked offended or something, because Jack just laughed and jabbed me in the side with his elbow. "I ain't saying you look bad! Just, different."

"Hardy, har har. Poke fun of the poor eighteen year old with the funny pants," I said, pretending to be upset. It looked like Jack was about to say something, when something in the distance caught his attention. I turned and looked at where he was staring, and saw Johns standing on the ship. He was looking in a pair of binoculars out into the distance, and he seemed pretty focused on something. "Hey Jack, I was never told what happened, why'd we crash?"

"Fry said we hit somthin' like a rogue comet or meteor shower, and then we crashed on this planet here," Jack looked out into the sky, then got quiet.

"Where were we going?"

"Most of us were going to Helion Prime, but Shazza and Zeke were going somewhere else and Johns was takin' Riddick to some slam," Jack said, slightly puzzled. "How come you don't know where we were goin'?"

"Like I said before, we were stowaways, we just needed to get... uh, off-planet," I answered. This was all so confusing, we were on an unknown planet, on our way to another planet, and there were Chrislams. I've never even heard of Chrislams before! I knew for a fact that there weren't people out living in space, I mean, we barely made it to the moon, and people still say that never happened. There was no way that we crashed a space ship, on a foreign planet. That was Britney Spears crazy, or was the phrase bat-shit? Oh well, means the same thing.

I turned around to see Jack gone, he was over by Shazza and Zeke, who were giving him and Aria something to breathe in. I had a moment of panic, waiting for them to pass out, but when nothing happened I calmed down. I got up and walked over to them.

"Hey Imam, if we're lookin' for water we should leave soon," Fry started. "We should leave before nightfall, when its cooler." Nightfall sounded wonderful right about now. I had had enough of this blasted heat and even just a small, cool breeze would be much appreciated.

Imam called out to the boy, Ali, and they walked away, just as Paris came up. He was out of breath and he leaned heavily on some old scythe weapon-thing. "Excuse me," he called, and everyone turned to look at him. "I think you should see this."

Everyone followed Paris around the ship, and everyone else was shocked. The just noticed the third sun, rising in all of its blue glory as the other two set. Everyone stared at it in disbelief, save for myself and Aria because we already knew this. I just couldn't understand how they hadn't seen it earlier.

Jack was the first to break the silence. "Three suns?" he asked, incredulous. He turned from the blue sun to look at Fry, who gave him no answers

"Bloody hell," Shazza breathed.

"So much for your nightfall," Zeke commented, looking at Fry.

Paris decided to pipe up, "So much for my cocktail hour."

Imam had his arms around Hassan as he walked up to everyone. He smiled and gladly stated, "We take this as a good sign. A path, direction from Allah, blue sun means blue water."

"Ever wonder why I'm and atheist?" Zeke questioned, before turning and walking away.

It was then that Johns climbed down from his perch on top of the ship and approached everyone. "Its a bit of a bad sign, that's Riddick's direction," Johns stated, as he pointed towards the blue sun. His southern accent was suddenly irritating, and on anyone else it might have been charming. I guess he just ruins everything.

"I thought you found his restraints over there," Fry added in. "towards sunset?" It was less of a question, and more of a statement. She looked at Johns, and I hoped with all my heart that the look in her eyes meant she didn't trust him. Even if a little, tiny bit of her mistrusts him, that would be enough for me.

"Right," Johns agreed, nodding his head. "that means he went towards sunrise." Johns walked over to Zeke's retreating figure, and grabbed something behind his back. "Zeke," he called. He pulled a strange looking gun from behind him and pulled back the barrel, letting it snap back into black with a click. "Fully loaded clip, safety is on, fire one shot if you see him," he instructed, handing the gun to Zeke.

"You're going off too?"

"Yeah."

"What happens when Riddick spots us first?" Paris questioned nervously.

Johns let a slow, creepy smile spread across his face before responding, "There will be no shots." He then walked away, leaving everyone to their thoughts.

Aria and I were quiet the entire time, not really having anything to add to the conversation. I thought about the last few things they said, they talked about a man, they did say he, named Riddick. I remembered Jack mentioning something about Johns, Riddick, and a slam, so Riddick must be the murderer and escape artist Johns was talking about earlier. Another odd name.

I looked at Aria, watching as she meant to go with Johns and Fry in search of water. I thought quickly, I didn't want her near Johns longer than necessary, but we still needed to be there when water was found. I sighed, great, we have to split up. "Hey Aria," I called. She turned to look at me questioningly. "I think you should stay here, and rest up awhile. I'll go with them in search for water."

"Okay," she looked at me warily, uncertainty in her voice.

"Don't worry, I'll come back with water, I promise!"

**Please review! Tell me if you love it or hate it! Or if you spot an area where I can improve, share your thoughts!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Once again, I own nothing! I hope you enjoy...**

My brow furrowed in aggravation, Imam was either singing or preaching or both, and it was really grating on my nerves. I didn't even know what he was talking about, it was all in Arabic. I could pick out Allah every once in awhile, but other than that he could be spouting nonsense about dragons and dinosaurs in an epic battle for who would protect the princess in the tower for all I knew. I snorted in amusement, '_a knight in shining armor fighting a T-Rex to get to his fated princes_s', classy.

I felt like I was doing way too much walking recently, and my feet were getting sore. We had been walking towards the blue sun for a while now, and as it rose our surroundings took on a blue hue. It was kinda like when you wear colored sunglasses, and everything looks like that color. There were a few dunes here and there, but the way we were going became more and more rugged as we went. The way was less flat now, and more of a slow incline on a rocky and very uneven terrain. My throat was dry, and I let out a pitiful cough. There really was no humidity in the air, and I worried that there was no water here. I have yet to see a cloud in the sky, and there looked to be no plant life. I counted us lucky there was even oxygen here.

Right about now I was regretting my decision to refuse the breathing devices Shazza and Zeke made. I felt like I just completed a triathlon, then had to wrestle an entire swamp of alligators without all the cool water and shade. Why would I wrestle alligators, I don't know, but it seemed like an appropriate way to describe how I felt right about now. There was a slight breeze, not enough to really make a difference, but it did push stray hairs into my mouth and eyes.

I was about ready to snap at Imam for his incessant religious monologue when Johns yelled for everyone to be quiet. Everyone froze as Johns scanned the area, and rocks rolled down the side of one hill. We all stared at it for a while, and I crouched down in case of attack. Johns pulled a gun from behind him and walked closer to the base of the pile of rocks. The sounds of more stones being disturbed startled me, but as I looked around I saw Imam's sons throwing rocks at a hill. They were saying something as they did it, but I couldn't understand them. Their behavior confused me, why would they throw rocks at other rocks?

Imam answered my silent question when he caught Fry and I staring at the children. "Seven stones to keep the devil at bay," Imam offered. The kids kept 'stoning the devil' and repeating whatever they were saying as Fry and Imam talked.

"You were on a trip to New Mecca, right?" Fry asked. I listened closely, why New Mecca, what was wrong with Old Mecca? Did the Muslims lose a holy war in Saudi Arabia? It would have been all over the news if something happened, especially if the U.S.'s precious oil supply was threatened, so why haven't I heard of New Mecca? Then again, we were supposedly in space on an unknown planet.

"Once in every lifetime, should there be a great Hajj," Imam started, he sounded like some old poet or something. I was assuming that he meant people should have or do a Hajj once in their lifetime, but with poets, you never know what they really mean. "A great pilgrimage to get to know Allah better, I guess. But to know yourself as well." This sounded really important to him, so I decided that no matter how annoying it got, he could sing his stuff as much as he liked. I had a great respect for the things people devoted their lives to, and I would never be the one to try and stop them from doing what made them happy. If Imam devoted his life to Chrislam, then he can preach his heart out. As long as I wasn't expected to listen. Or pray.

"Yeah."

"We are all on the same Hajj now," Imam added, taking a weapon from Fry and walking away. His sons followed after him, some taking puffs from the inhaler-like things. I stared longingly at those air things, I really should have taken one.

I watched as the group split up, should I go with Imam and his boys, or with Fry and Johns? I followed Fry after a while, thinking I would do better to hang around them and gain whatever information I could by listening to them, seeing as though I couldn't understand Arabic. Fry walked up behind Johns, and he swung his gun around to point at her. She froze, gasping in surprise. Johns stared at her for a moment before lowering his gun.

"See anything?"

"No Riddick. Trees, trees mean water," Johns mumbled, still scanning the area with his binoculars.

"Oh thank God!" I exclaimed, excited beyond belief. I walked over to Johns and he looked up at me, still crouched on the ground. "Can I see them?"

"No,"he replied, putting his binoculars back on his belt, smirking at me. I rolled my eyes, he is so immature! Stupid, dummy head and his selfish antics. 'I hope he falls off this mound of rocks and lands on his face'. Pushing him didn't seem like such a bad choice either at the moment.

We all grouped back together, and when the Arab boys saw the trees, they ran forward, exclaiming something in Arabic. I wanted to run off too, but that wouldn't look too good on my part. I wouldn't want people to see me prance away and think I was childish. I studied the trees, and they didn't look that healthy. They weren't exactly brown, green, and vibrant with life. They looked like the dragon blood trees that grew in dry environments like this one, but even where there should be leaves, they looked more grey than green. We got closer, and I was just itching to hurry our pace up, I wanted to fill this metal-box container I found with water for Aria, and get back before she got herself into trouble.

But as soon as we reached the top of the valley my hopes were crushed. We all just stood there for a moment, staring at what lie below us. I wanted to cry in frustration, but I don't do that sort of thing. Below us were the giant skeletons of what looked like stegosauruses, the only difference was that the spines on these looked like trees. They looked so much like trees. Now not only did I want to cry, but I also wanted to collapse on the ground, roll around, and throw a tantrum.

"I really hate this planet," I whispered. This was so stupid, why couldn't we have crashed on a beach resort that had wonderful hospitality and a free, two week stay? I just really wanted to drink some water.

"A communal graveyard perhaps, like the elephants from Earth," Imam said. He listened closely when Hassan, or Suleiman, I'm not sure, said something to him. "He asks what could have killed so many great things."

"Is this whole planet dead?"

"There has to be more than just that," I said, my voice filled with disbelief. "There can't just be one kind of thing on a whole planet!"

"It might be better if there was," Fry stated. "It takes something very dangerous to take down such big creatures."

"Lets just get a closer look." Johns started walking down into the valley, and the others followed. I held back, I felt like we were being watched, and it sent shivers down my spine. I looked around, and there was no sign of anyone unusual in our area. I could see everyone as they went their separate ways, and I wanted to explore, but I still felt a little like prey.

It was an interesting sight, this bone yard. It went on for miles, filled with the biggest skeletons I have ever seen. I really haven't seen any skeletons before, but I would imagine that these could be the size of whales. As I walked by them I noticed that their bones were wider than my arm, and their ribs were taller than I am. They had huge skulls and what looked like two, maybe three, eye sockets. Their teeth were more like molars, and I decided they were probably herbivores. What they ate was an enigma though.

Ali had picked up a bone and was running it along the ribs of a smaller creature, creating an annoying sound that resembled what it sounded like to run when you ran your finger along a fence. I sighed, it reminded me of home, I actually missed my home. My parents nagging would be a relief at this point, constantly asking; When are you moving out? What college are you going to? Where are you going? Who are you going with? I wished I could go home, but walking around, moping wasn't going to help anyone! I looked at Johns as he tried to sneak around, occasionally crouching to hide behind a bone before looking around the corner. Ali was frolicking about, but I had lost track of Imam and the other two boys. Fry was sitting against a bone, and I took this as my chance to explore.

I wandered around, pondering life's greatest questions and other deep crap like that when a particular skull caught my interest. It was wonderfully shady and one of the holes in it looked like a lounge chair. As I walked over to it, I noticed that there was a tunnel like structure in the seat. Curiosity got the better of me, and I crawled through it. It was cool in there, but it had a strange smell I couldn't put my finger on. The tunnel twisted and turned, but there was never a different option to take. I wound up in what could have been the brain cavity, but I wasn't sure. There was a hole in the back, closer to the top. I climbed over to it, and as I approached I could hear voices. I crawled through and ended up on the top of the spine. It was weird walking through a skeleton, so maybe Ms. Fizzle just shrunk us all down and brought us here on her magic school bus. It would only be a slightly more crazy explanation than interplanetary travel.

I shimmied along the top of the spine, trying to get closer to the voices without making any noise. For the most part I succeeded, except every once in awhile I would almost fall and made a bunch of noise as I caught myself. The voices became clearer, and I could make out two different ones. They sounded like Fry and Johns, and Fry didn't seem to want to talk.

"What did Owens mean?" Johns asked. I didn't know who Owens was, or what he could have possibly meant, but it had to be important. They wouldn't be out here, secluded from the others and talking in hushed tones if it wasn't. "On not touching the handle."

Fry was quiet, and from where I was I could barely see Johns stand up. I leaned forward and tried to see them better, but I was afraid I would fall. I grabbed behind me for something to hold on to and I found a crack in the bone to stick my fingers into. I anchored myself there and leaned as far as I would dare. I could see the top of Fry's head and her back, so I was practically right on top of her. I waited for her reply when I noticed a bone close to the back of her neck. It seemed to inch closer and closer to her, then stopped. I stared at it, waiting for it to move with an intensity that really wasn't necessary when I realized Fry was talking.

"I'm not your captain," she said, staring Johns in the eyes. After a moment she looked away, continuing, "During the landing, when things were at their worst, Owens was at his best. He's the one who stopped the docking pilot from dumping the main cabin. The passengers," She said the last part quietly,and I barely heard it. I watched as the piece of bone slowly moved away, and I wondered distantly if the wind was making it sway.

"Who is the docking pilot?"

Fry just turned and looked at him, I couldn't see her face but I assumed she had a look of guilt on it. So Fry was going to let everyone die, no wonder she acted dodgy sometimes. She must have felt bad for getting rid of the cargo hold when Aria said we were stowaways. It was all so strange, and I just couldn't wrap my mind around it. I was trying to piece it all together when the bone moved again. It got close to Fry, and it looked like it took off a chunk of her hair. Weird.

Johns put his hat on Fry's head, saying, "Guess I'm happier to be here than I thought."

I waited until they started walking away before jumping down. It wasn't graceful in the slightest, and I stumbled a little after landing. Luckily the sand muffled the sound, and neither of them turned back around. I wanted to look at the bone thing, so I turned to investigate. What I saw made me freeze.

Standing there behind the ribs was the scariest guy I have ever seen. He stood a good six feet, with nothing but sheer muscle rippling under all of his exposed skin. He wore a black wife beater and black cargo pants with black combat boots, but he wore the strangest goggles over his eyes. They were black as well, and looked like tiny welding goggles. He had perfectly chiseled features, and he was very attractive, in that scary bad-guy way. His head was either bald or shaved, but it matched him perfectly, and he had an air of danger about him. It was alluring, and my stomach fluttered while I looked at him.

I stared straight into his covered eyes, or I thought I did, and shifted my weight on my back foot. This guy was undoubtedly very strong, and I would be crazy to take him on. I made to run away, but I couldn't quite bring myself to leave. It was a nerve wracking standoff, and I almost peed myself when he moved. He simply turned his head to the side, then seemed to fade slowly into the shadows and disappear.

I stayed in that spot for a good minute, completely dumbstruck. I was feeling the after effects of that strange first encounter. My heart was beating fast, and I had the sneaking suspicion that it wasn't just because he was intimidating. He looked so animalistic and so, ugh, what was the word to describe him, so handsome! My cheeks burned and I was blushing like an idiot, what kind of weirdo was I? I should be running in the opposite direction, and yet, here I was, thinking about how hot he was! I shook my head and took off in search of the others. When I came up behind them, Fry informed me we would be moving on. I took one last look behind me in hopes I would see the stranger again, but the bone yard was empty. I turned around and walked after Fry.

**Please review!**


	4. Chapter 4

**I still own nothing! **

Walking, walking, and even more walking. That's what my day revolved around now. I walked to join the survivors, I walked to a valley of dead animals, and now I was walking towards a settlement. At least this place could offer something useful. Hassan, Suleiman, and Ali were busy shouting in Arabic at the settlement. I assumed they were yelling things like: 'Hello? Anyone there? Would you like to convert to Chrislam?', but whatever it was got no answer. Fry added her voice to the collection and asked if there was anyone out there, but still there was no response.

Even from a distance the place looked abandoned. There were big metal buildings everywhere, and tarp sheds here and there. The tarps were tattered and ripped, and doors hung open on the buildings. Litter was strewn about randomly, and tables and lawn chairs were tipped over and scattered about. Metal barrels were tipped and tilted and leaned against walls, and other strange metal containers could be found laying around. I slowed and picked up a small doll, it was ragged and dirty, but more sad than anything. I clenched my fist around it, squishing the stuffing inside it. The area around me was so desolate, and I felt a strange feeling of deja vu wash over me at the ghost town appearance. It was like I had seen something like this once, a place abandoned and run down, devoid of life. Flashes of my childhood nightmares reminded me that I had dreamed of a place like this, but that didn't feel entirely right. I didn't just dream something so lonely, did I?

I wandered around the buildings, tossing the doll on one of the tables. I ran my hand along the metal surface of the buildings, burning the pads of my fingers. I was so lost in my own thoughts that I didn't even realize the slight pain. I knew I wasn't related to my parents by blood, but there was no way I could remember something from before I was three. That's how old I was when they found me, three years old, asleep on their doorstep with nothing but a piece of paper with my name on it. The dreams were just nightmares that every little kid got, there was nothing special about them. Of course dreaming about empty villages and burning homes wasn't exactly normal, but I grew out of them. The only one that stayed with me through the years was the dream about the graveyard. It was always so vivid, the miles of tombstones and the strange woman who was always talking to me, telling me secrets. I never remembered what she said, but I always remembered the orange sky and the dirt beneath my feet. It was so realistic that whenever I woke up I still believed I was there. When I was younger, I liked to pretend she was my real mother, that deep down I remembered her, but that was just a fool's hope. I had two wonderful parents, and I didn't need some imaginary woman to be my mother. I tried to shake off these stupid memories, I just had strange dreams, they were probably just indigestion messing with my head.

"There was water here," I heard Imam say. My head snapped over to him at the mention of water so fast it could have snapped my neck. I trotted over to where he was and watched as he tinkered with a piece of tubing running under a tarp.

I was just standing there, hovering around him when he followed the tube to a big, solar powered thing-a-majig. By this point everyone was present except Fry, and Imam's boys were talking again. I really wished they could speak English, it would make understanding them so much easier. Then they wouldn't be misunderstood, and I wouldn't have to constantly guess what they are talking about. Like if they were talking about cats, I like cats, we could talk about cats together! Or how to perfect a roundhouse kick, I could participate in a conversation like that too.

Imam mentioned something to Johns about what the boys were saying, and then pointed something out about the strange contraption and the source of the water. They started discussing ways to fix it, and I just backed off and stood off to the side. I shifted awkwardly from foot to foot, not really sure what to do with myself. The kids talked to each other in a language I didn't know, and I really didn't want to talk to Johns. Not like I had anything to add the their conversation anyway.

I took off in search of Fry, but I didn't see her out in the open. I took a closer look at the buildings and noticed that an area that looked blocked off before, was now opened. I approached it cautiously, hearing the slight tick of a working mechanism. I poked my head into the dark room and couldn't see anything in the darkness for a moment. My eyes soon adjusted and I saw Fry staring at what looked like my sixth grade science project. It was a model of some planets, only this one lit up and spun better than mine did. I took a deep breath and literally felt years of dust assault my nose. I sneezed, and it wasn't one of those dainty, lady-like sneezes either. It was the grand, mac-daddy of all sneeze kind, and it scared the crap out of Fry. She whipped around, her hand over her heart as she glared at me.

"You scared me," she stated. I waited for something else, but it never came. I looked her over, and she stared back, but she didn't say it!

"Well bless you. Oh! Thank you Fry!" I exclaimed, way overly exuberant. Speaking for both myself and Fry.

"Why would I bless you?"

"Its only polite!"

She gave me a funny look before walking past me. "We should go find the others."

I guess her parents never taught her manners! It wasn't anything major that she didn't say anything, and it didn't offend me, but I still found it strange. At home if you sneezed in public, at least three people would bless you. She acted like she had never heard of something like that before.

I had just walked out of that dark building when Fry took off running. She was whooping and cheering and flinging her arms about as she went. "Hello Mecca!" she shouted, her hat falling off and landing in the sand. I walked slowly after her, convinced he had just snapped and was hallucinating. But hey, I was wrong, and I'll admit to that. I followed after her and saw what she was looking at, I guess she wasn't crazy. Fry stood in front of what looked like the love child of a space shuttle and an airplane. It was about the size of a crop-duster, and not the farting kind. The front was bulky, and it had a large wing that was set back farther than I thought it should have been. It didn't look very aerodynamic, but maybe space vehicles didn't have to. There were two big engine-propeller something or others on each side of a door that had dropped into a ramp. Inside there was a bench on each side, and two chairs up front by the windows. The dashboard though, that was a confusing piece of machinery right there. There were a ton of buttons, some switches, and even a few levers. Some were red, some were blue, and some were green. I'm positive that Dr. Sues would have a field day with this. One switch, two switch, red switch, blue switch! Or from there to here, and here to there, lots of buttons everywhere! I snorted a little as I thought about that, it would be amusing to hear a children's poem about a spaceship dashboard.

Fry walked past me and into the baby ship. She rifled through a bunch of compartments on it, flicking some of the switches and pressing buttons. She ended up with her head in the floor of the little ship, the floor panel on the ground next to her. She made a few grunts every once in awhile and her body jerked as she pulled on something, but other than that she didn't move. I watched her with interest for a while, but my attention was fading fast. Eventually she pulled body back out of there and closed the panel.

"No juice, looks like its been laid up for years, but we might be able to adapt it to-"

"Shut up," Johns cut Fry off. He was looking off into the distance, and if my sense of direction was right, he was looking towards the crash site. Everyone was dead silent, watching Johns and waiting to hear an explanation for his rude behavior. "Sorry, I thought I heard somethin'"

"Like what?"

"Gunshots"

**This chapter is pretty short, but I really wanted to crank out another chapter before I go to sleep! Your reviews make me happy, so please continue to shower me with praise! Haha, no... but I do like your feed back! And to all who asked, no, Chara will not be very powerful, I just didn't want her to be completely helpless. I did go a little overboard with the martial arts, but what can I say? I couldn't choose just one!**


	5. Chapter 5

**This was a hard chapter to write, so I hope I don't disappoint you with it!**

I couldn't hear anything except for the pounding of my feet and the blood pumping through my veins. I couldn't feel the warmth from the suns and I couldn't feel the fatigue that burned through my legs. Nothing mattered at this point except getting back to the crash. Aria was there, gunshots were heard, and something was wrong. Something went wrong and I wasn't there to make sure she was okay, I should have never split us up, I should have never left her on her own. Adrenaline pushed me farther, and in the back of my mind I realized that the others were behind me. I just had to get there, I had to make sure she was alright.

I stopped and fell to my knees, I just couldn't keep running. I buried my face in my hands, but looked up as Johns and Fry passed me. My heart was like a jackhammer in my chest, and it beat so hard I felt it would burst. I gulped down as much air as my lungs could take, but I couldn't get enough. I had to get up, I pushed my hands off the ground, standing shakily. I forced myself to run, to get there before something happened to my cousin. I ran as fast as I could, but I couldn't catch up to them. I watched them as they disappeared behind the strange rock formations, pushing myself as hard as I could.

I heard yelling, and what sounded like a fight behind the tall rocks. It sounded like Shazza yelling, but nothing prepared me for what I saw when I came around the corner. Fry was holding back Shazza as she tried to get at the stranger I saw in the bone yard, and Johns had a baton out that he was beating the man with. Anger bubbled up from within me, and a strong protective urge came over me. Without thinking I leapt forward, covering the stranger's body with my own. I received a quick blow to the side, and it felt like the baton hit my back. I yelped in pain and glared at Johns.

"What the hell are you doing?" I demanded, not moving from where I was. I felt someone grab my arm and hall me to my feet, holding me back from helping the stranger. I tried to shake their grip, but they only held tighter.

"Somebody kill him!" Shazza yelled. "Just somebody goddamn kill him!" She thrashed around in Fry's grip, trying desperately to get at the man. Fry loosened her grip just a little to try and adjust her hold, but Shazza used this chance to kick him right in the face. His body went slack and Fry dragged Shazza away.

I yanked my arm from my captor's hold, and turned around to see Imam behind me. He gave me a meaningful look that I didn't understand and walked away, helping Johns drag the man behind him. I stomped after them, momentarily forgetting my weariness. I was confused and angry, and I really wanted to bash some heads or break something to relieve my frustrations.

I basically seethed in anger the entire walk back, and I'm pretty sure that if someone tried to talk to me right then I would have bitten their head off. But why was I so angry? Yeah, I thought that beating people up isn't the greatest thing ever, but this was like a whole nother level of bad intent. It frightened me a little when I felt the protective urge, I don't know him, so why would I feel the need to help him so strongly? If it was a little kid that was being hurt, then my reaction would be normal, but this was a grown man who could probably crush my skull with his bare hands. I even momentarily forgot about Aria when I tried to help the man, and that was what worried me the most. I forgot to check for Aria because some one I didn't know was getting hurt, and I wasn't supposed to care about others, I was supposed to only worry about myself and Aria. We were all that mattered, but I forgot to take care of her first and I dove into something that wasn't my business.

When we got back I saw Aria comforting Shazza, holding her and whispering something to her that I didn't hear. Shazza looked up and glared at me, and I returned the look with equal fire. She brushed Aria off and stormed towards me, not hearing Aria call after her. I noticed that Aria gave me a dirty look from behind Shazza. My anger was gone for a moment after her look, but I didn't get to ask her about it when Shazza started yelling at me.

"What in bloody hell did you think you were doing? Protecting that animal!" Shazza screeched. Her eyes were glassy and bloodshot, and I thought she might have been crying.

"What was I doing? You were beating the man!" I yelled right back.

"He's a brute and a murderer!" she retorted. She was breathing heavily through her nose, but I faltered slightly at the new information. So he was Riddick, the one Johns was talking about.

"And? You don't go around beating people senseless for what they did in their past!" Wait, what? Where was this coming from, and why was I still defending him? Since when was I so big on forgiveness, usually I'm the one who holds the grudge.

"He killed Zeke!" she practically screamed. Tears were flowing freely now, but all I kept thinking was that he was innocent. My mind was telling me she was probably right, but my instincts screamed he didn't do it.

"Did you see blood on him? Where is your proof? He could have tried to help Zeke, you don't know! You only blamed him because it was easy! You didn't think about it, you just assumed he did it!" I stood there, panting. I was absolutely livid, but I couldn't feel the usual hand on my shoulder that calmed me down when I got upset. I scanned the people around me, noticing Aria was missing. The others wouldn't look me in the eye, but I ignored that for now. Everyone else was accounted for, either standing around us and watching, or only a few feet away, but she was gone.

I wanted to go look for her, but Paris spoke up, "It doesn't matter if there is proof or not, I think we should keep the man chained up anyway, he is a danger to us all."

"I hate to agree, but he is too dangerous to let out right now," Fry agreed.

"We should just leave him in there to die, the bloody savage," Shazza spat, still glaring at me. A low growl came from my chest, and my eyes widened in surprise, that was strange. I shook off the stray thoughts and focused on the conversation.

Johns had said something when I wasn't paying attention, but at this point almost everyone except Imam had agreed to let him rot in there. They decided that he wasn't worth keeping around and they were just going to leave him chained up to die of exposure or dehydration. These people disgusted me, and I thought Jack would at least say something, but he was disregarded for being a child.

"So what, you're just going to let him die in there like some kind of animal?" I snarled. "No, you know what, you people sicken me! Treating him like this is revolting."

"He is a damned animal! He deserves what's coming to him!" Shazza yelled.

"No! No one deserves that! Where are your moralities, people? You don't know him, and you most certainly don't know if he killed Zeke! Who are you to play God and hold another's life in your hands? Huh?" I roared. I looked at every person individually, pointedly staring each one of them down until I got to Shazza. "Well?" She didn't look at me, but I could see her jaw clenching in anger. She knew I was right, but she didn't want to admit that.

Shazza stayed silent, and I pushed past her. I walked into the ship and began searching for Aria. I noticed that I was breathing easier, and I no longer felt an entire lung short, just three fourths of one. My muscles still burned, and I felt the pain in my side and back hit me full force. My adrenaline must have masked the pain, and now that there was no more excitement I could feel the after effects of my heroics. I groaned as I clutched my side, Shazza must have kicked me pretty hard. I lifted my shirt and saw a big bruise forming, it was going to look really ugly in the morning. I pulled my shirt back down and continued searching.

"Aira!" I called. I searched through the ship and found her just outside where Riddick was held. She was sitting on the ground, her back against the wall. I heard sniffling, and she looked like she had been crying. I told her not to get close to anyone, that it would only hurt when something happened to them but of course she didn't listen. I squatted next to her, putting my hand on her shoulder. I opened my mouth to try and comfort her but she brushed my hand from her shoulder. I looked over at her and saw the glare in her eyes.

I took my hand back and cradled it to my chest like it had been burned. "What's wrong?" I whispered, almost afraid to ask.

"He killed Zeke, and you defended him!" she exclaimed, standing up and pacing. "First you don't let me go with Johns, and make me stay here with strangers while you go with him, then you stand up for someone like him," she spat. She paced back and forth, flailing her arms to demonstrate her point. "What is wrong with you?"

"Is that what this is about? Me not letting you follow Johns?" I asked, dumbstruck. She wasn't angry about Zeke, she was angry I was with Johns and she wasn't. "That guy is a creep! You should stay away from him anyway!"

"You're just jealous that he was paying more attention to me than you when we met!" she yelled, turning to glare at me with hateful eyes.

I stood up too, facing her and trying desperately to douse my anger before I said something I'd regret. I took a deep breath before asking, "Do you really think I'm that petty, that I'd do something so stupid like that just to get the attention of someone I don't even like?" She was silent, refusing to meet my eyes. She had her arms crossed over her chest and her jaw ticked in anger. "Do you?" This time my voice was quiet and hurt. I sounded pitiful to my own ears, and I cursed myself for being so weak. I felt my eyes glass over, and I swallowed a lump in my throat. I refused to cry, for any reason, and Aria certainly wouldn't make me cry because of her jealous words.

"You've always been like this Chara, always the center of attention. Everybody loves you, I guess you just draw people in, but this time I was the one he liked. This time I was the one he looked at, and you won't ruin it," she said quietly. She said it with such determination and brutal honesty that I couldn't respond. She started walking away from me and I followed after her.

"Aria?" I stumbled after her, my heart feeling like it was torn in two. Did she hate me? What did she mean I've always been like this? I tried to grab her arm, but she spun around and avoided me. She took off again, hitting my shoulder as she went.

"How sad," a deep voice rumbled. I spun on my heel and came face to face with none other than Riddick. He was sitting with his arms spread out and chained to the wall behind him. It seemed like it was darker around him, and I couldn't see his face in the shadows. I sniffled a little, trying to regain my composure.

"Yeah, well, that's what happens when you do something without thinking," I said, turning my chin up and trying to sound indifferent. He just tilted his head to the side and stared at me. We sat like that for a minute or so, and it slowly chipped away at my patience. I cleared my throat, "Please tell me that I didn't royally screw up by trying to help you."

"That depends, did you want to make all of the other survivors distrust you?" he asked. Great, I did mess up everything, and all for the sake of a most likely psychopathic murderer.

"Don't mock me," I snapped. I was clenching my fists at my sides, my nails biting into my skin. He just had to be a jerk didn't he? "I only stood up for you when everyone else wanted you dead! No need to thank me or anything!"

"Hm," was all he said.

"You know, if you keep this damn attitude up, no one will believe you are anything other than a manipulative asshole who isn't worthy of their time" I ground out. I can't believe I just stood up for this guy, but leaving him here to die really wasn't something I agreed with. Even if he is a jerk, he is still a human being, and there has got to be more to him than what everyone thinks.

"What makes you believe that I am?"

"No one is that one-dimensional, Riddick. And I may not know you, I don't pretend to, but my instincts tell me you are more than you seem," I looked right at him then, speaking my beliefs like he even cares. I know that whatever I say will probably just be shrugged off by him, but I had to have him understand where I was coming from. "I may look like an idiot right now, but I will protect those I care about, even if it kills me. That's what people don't know about me, and just because they don't see that part of me doesn't mean it doesn't exist." I don't know why I felt the need to explain myself to him, but it felt good to say that. I thought about Aria then, how I was failing to protect her. "Even if they hate me for protecting them," I added in a whisper.

I headed toward the exit, dreading seeing the others. I would, in the best case scenario, get nasty looks or in the worst case scenario, get shunned. I sighed, this would not be fun, I should have just kept to myself, let everyone do their own thing. But no, I had to get involved, and I had to take the wrong side. I rubbed my temples in frustration, I had to go out there and patch things up or I would be in big trouble.

I was so into my own thoughts that I completely missed the whispered, "Interesting."

**Please Review!**


	6. Chapter 6

"The others will understand eventually," Imam's voice came from behind me. I was sitting a ways away from the others trying to think of a way back into Aria's good graces. So far I had come up with a whole lot of nothing. What was I gonna do in a mysterious land of space travel and awkward social situations without my best friend?

"Understand what?" I asked, feigning ignorance. He sat next to me and pat me on the shoulder. I looked up at him with surprise, I think he was trying to console me. It was a nice thought, and I really hoped that was what he was doing.

"What you did for Riddick," he sighed. "They are good people, but even good people make bad decisions. Especially in fear. You must understand they are afraid of him."

"Yeah, well, I'm afraid of spiders, doesn't mean I want them all dead, y'know? Spiders have a good side to them, they are creepy, yes, but they are also very misunderstood," I explained. "Behind the scenes they do good, and you feel the effects of their hard work every day without realizing it. Without them, life would suck-literally, so they're like a necessary evil. I may not want to do what they do, but sometimes it needs to be done. Balance, without the bad, how could we truly feel the good?"

"It appears you are more wise than your years suggest. You know the truth of the world in part, and you see the depth in others. You are a good child, yet you still have much to learn. Be careful not to lose your kind heart," and with that he stood up, walking away from me.

"If I am so smart, then why do I feel so stupid," I mumbled. I stood up to look for Aria, might as well get this over with. I jammed my hands into my pockets and felt something in my right pocket. I pulled it out and saw a Tootsie Roll! A big smile took over my face, and I was about to unwrap it and devour it in the most horrifying manner possible when I thought of a better idea. An evil cackle escaped my lips as I thought about my plan, 'If I play my cards right, this just might work!' A smirk replaced my smile, and I couldn't wait to set my plan into action.

"Hey Aria?" I asked. She had her back to me, and she was hiding out in the ship. She didn't turn around so I plopped myself down beside her.

She turned her head to give me a death glare and growled, "What do you want?"

"I just found something you might like, and I thought I could apologize to you for being such an inconsiderate bitch our whole lives," I said, waving my hand dismissively in front of me. She looked shocked, and she just stared at me silently. "All those years I took the attention off you because I wanted to hog the spotlight. I just couldn't stand all those piano recitals and award ceremonies of yours I had to attend. I mean, how dare you have so much natural talent and success while I was always left to clean up after you. All those bullies I beat up, all those gallons of ice cream I ate with you, and all those times I kissed your boo-boo and made it better. I am such a horrible person."

"Don't forget how you always had the attention of the guys I liked," Aria added. I saw a small smile tug the corner of her lips, and I so hoped she completely understood my sarcasm.

"Oh yes! With my long black tangles and my ragged second-hand cloths, I was SUCH a charmer! Who would look at the rich porcelain doll-like angel next to me when I so looked like Halle Berry in Catwoman before she became Catwoman! I was all quirky and successful, but I had no sex appeal."

"I have no idea what you are referencing."

"I doesn't matter! Here," I said, holding my hand out for her. She put her hand under mine and I dropped it on her palm. She looked at the waxy paper wrapping and the brown and white logo with surprise written all over her face.

"Are you trying to bribe me with a Tootsie Roll?" she asked, incredulous.

"Yes. Is it working?"

She laughed, an actual non-sarcastic laugh. She looked over at me and smiled, "Yeah, its working." We hugged and I really hoped that was the last of the drama I would have to deal with from her. I didn't have another Tootsie Roll, and I don't think a sarcastic guilt trip would work a second time.

I noticed she hadn't touched her candy yet. "Are you going to eat that?"

"Yes! And no, I won't share, so back off you vulture!" We giggled and talked for awhile about stupid things and made up. It was good to have her back. I told her about all the things I saw at the camp, and she told me about what had happened here while I was gone. I also told her the plot of Catwoman, and she laughed when she got the joke I made earlier.

Somehow we got on the topic of Johns, and she absolutely gushed about how great and handsome he was. I simply rolled my eyes, but I didn't say anything. She could have this weird obsession as long as she never found him alone. I would absolutely make sure there was no one on one time between the two, or my role as the creepy overprotective relative would fall into ruins. I would be just like her father, she won't date anyone ever and will never move away from me. At least, until we find our way back home.

"Have you had any of those weird dreams lately?" Aria asked out of the blue.

"I haven't slept since we woke up here," I replied. How long were we here? The blue sun was almost setting now, and the two orange suns were creeping up behind us. "But no, not for a few weeks now."

"You should get some sleep then, you never know when you might need your strength! Here, I know this nice spot that I took a nap in earlier." Aria lead my into the ship, losing me in the twists and turns. We ended up in front of this small compartment that looked like a broom closet.

"I don't know Aria, what if something happens while I'm asleep, you know I'm a deep sleeper," I said, uncertain. I could feel how tired I was, all this excitement was really doing a number on me. I knew I needed rest, but I just made up with Aria, and now I cannot let anything happen to her.

"Its fine! I'll take watch," Aria reassured me. She pushed me towards the closet thing, and I saw a collection of random pieces of cloth and foam. It seems Aria made herself a nest.

I fluffed a piece of foam and put my head on it, staying on top of all the fabric. I really didn't need them in this blasted heat. I could feel a small breeze coming from a hole in the wall, and I reveled in how wonderful it felt to be out of the heat with a small breeze. I closed my eyes and shifted around to get comfortable, I counted sheep escaping the farmyard until I fell asleep.

_I was standing on a hill, overlooking a massive cemetery. The scene was haunting, and it sent shivers down my spine. I have been here before, in another dream, in another lifetime. The sky was orange, and the landscape around me was rough and mountainous. Rock mountains jutted up from the earth in jagged points, and the only life around me was a single tree. It had long lost all of it's leaves, only covered in grey bark. In the distance I could see a wall, it looked ruined and aged, devoid of upkeep._

_I walked closer to a grave, it was nothing special, just sloppily carved stone with moss and vines growing over it. I ran my hand over the front of it, I could feel indents in it, it felt like writing. I tried to read what it said, but the inscriptions had long since eroded away. My hand slipped away, but I still stared at the sad gravestone. I heard gravel crunch behind me, and I turned to see a beautiful woman._

_She had long caramel hair that was braided close to her head. Long feathers adorned her hair, and bits of rope with tiny shells were wrapped around chunks of her hair. She had rings of dirty brass around her neck, and leather studded bracers on her wrists. She wore a leather skirt and a coarse, warm colored shirt with leather arm straps. Tall boots went past her knees and a cape fluttered behind her, she really the embodiment of wild beauty._

_She walked with cat-like grace, and reminded me of an animal on the hunt. But for some reason I wasn't afraid of her. I had seen her too many times to not recognize the woman who plagued my dreams. She stopped in front of me, her back to the sea of gravestones._

_"You are so close," she whispered. Her eyes held hope and knowledge, and she looked at me as if she knew every one of my secrets._

_"So close to what?" I asked._

_"Your destiny"_

_She turned around and slowly began walking away from me. I got up and ran after her but I couldn't keep up. Her cape swished as she walked, and in desperation I yelled, "Who are you! Wait!" I stumbled and fell, pounding my fists into the dirt. I was so close! What did she mean, my destiny? Why do I keep having dreams about her? Unanswered questions assaulted my brain, and I growled in irritation. One questioned bothered me the most, but I would only acknowledge it in the safety of my head. The constant uncertainty that drowned me in it's shallow depths. "Who am I?" I knew she had the answer, she had to. But I could never ask her, I was too afraid of the answer._

_A bang echoed in the valley, and the world slowly started to fade away. The edges faded to black, and the background slowly disappeared. I clung to the tombstone next to me, desperately trying to stay here. Soon the world around me was black, and all I could see was the headstone, there was nothing left around me, and I could feel my consciousness slowly pulling me back from my dream. I clawed at the stone, hopelessly wanting to stay here. "But I still have so many questions!"_

I woke up with a huge pang of loss in my heart. I unraveled myself from the strips and scraps of cloth beneath me. I must have tossed around a lot in my sleep, but I did feel rested. I stretched my arms above my head, hearing the distinct pop of my joints loosening. I stood up and twisted my torso from side to side, hearing my spine crack in several places as well. Wow, that felt good.

I stepped out of the closet and yawned, rubbing the sleep from my eyes. Another dream, but at least this time I can remember what she said. How was I close to my destiny, I was stranded on this wasteland of a planet with a few other survivors and a convict.

"Fuck you!" Speak of the devil and he shall appear. Huh.

There was a pause, and I wandered towards the noise with curiosity.I traveled down the many hallways and around the boatload of fallen debris. There was no response for a while, and I distantly wondered if he was talking to himself. Then Johns' southern accent broke the silence, "Do we have a deal?"

Oh, interesting, what kind of deal? A deal with the devil was a dangerous thing, but in this case, who was the devil? I finally got to the place where I first argued with Aria, and instantly knew where I was. I walked into the room where Riddick was chained up to see Riddick free with a gun in Johns' face. Johns was all cool, calm, and collected, but I could practically smell the fear radiating off of him. Riddick's jaw ticked in anger, but he neither pulled the trigger nor put the gun down. I secretly hoped he would bash Johns in the skull with the but of the gun, then say some cool catchphrase and walk away with an explosion at his back, but that didn't happen.

Riddick handed Johns his gun back and said, "I want you to remember this moment." Then snatched his goggles and stalked away from Johns. I moved out of the way as he walked past me, following behind him.

Neither of us said anything for a long while, and once again I couldn't stand his silence. I was extraordinarily curious about what went on between him and Johns, but he didn't look like he was going strike up a conversation anytime soon.

"So, um, what kind of deal did you make with Johns?" I asked, trying to break the ice with a genuine question. It was better than 'Nice weather outside, isn't it?' At least this way I could hopefully avoid weird chit-chat, not that Riddick seemed like the type of person who involved himself in chit-chat.

"I get to go free, as long as I don't shove a shiv up someone's ass," he replied. He didn't turn to look at me, but his tone was slightly sarcastic.

"Good for you, I guess. I was kinda hoping though, that you'd at least hit Johns in the face or something."

There was a short bark of laughter before Riddik said, "That's a pretty violent thought there kid." I huffed, oh no he didn't! I am no child!

"Ha! I may have the mindset of a witty and sarcastic teenager, but my body is that of an attractive, young_ woman_!"

"Hardly," he chuckled.

"How rude!" I exclaimed. But I was smiling, that was a good one, I'll admit that. Johns cleared his throat behind me, but I decided I'd ignore him, maybe if I pretended he wasn't there he'd go away.

I asked for too much, Johns didn't just magically vanish in thin air, instead he followed us out of the ship. The obnoxious heat struck me once again, and I really wanted to turn on the world's air conditioner. Maybe Jack Frost would visit us and give us a nice, refreshing, snowy day! But, alas, my dreams of winter were crushed by the two suns that rested high in the sky.

"Oh God, the things I would do for a Klondike Bar right now," I grumbled. Riddick looked over at me, but he didn't say anything.

Aria came running at me full speed, almost knocking me over when she didn't stop fast enough and collided with me. I let out an 'umph' as she knocked the wind out of my lungs, and muttered angry words when she accidentally hit my bruise. She gasped when she saw my pained expression.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you!"

"No, it wasn't you, I just have a nasty bruise," I explained. She looked at me with concern and then suddenly pulled up my shirt. "Hey!"

"What happened?" She held my shirt just below my bust, and I was thankful she didn't lift it any higher. My bra was pretty scandalous, and no one here needed to see it. I'm not a slut or anything, it just made me feel pretty. Aria poked and prodded the bruise, and it hurt like crap, but I let her inspect it.

"Shazza kicked me in the side, I have a matching one on my back from Johns too," I said, pointedly glaring at Johns as I said this. He ignored me and went off towards the others. I noticed Riddick watching me, and I sent him a questioning look, but he just turned and walked after Johns.

"Oh, well anyway, I came over here to tell you that everyone is packing up to go to that camp you were talking about earlier," Aria said. She released my shirt and I adjusted it to sit comfortably. She started walking away, and I was about to follow her when she spun back around. "And I almost forgot, Fry found some scary monsters in the hole Zeke disappeared in. They totally almost got her too."

"How could you almost forget something so important?" She opened her mouth to speak but I cut her off, "Nevermind, don't answer that. How worried should I be?"

"They don't like the light, so I guess we're pretty safe, seeing as there is no night time anymore."

"Well that's reassuring, how about we never go cave exploring here then? It would end up just like in The Descent, there will be creepy dark-dwelling creatures and a pool of blood, and everyone will turn against each other to get free but end up dying anyway."

"What are you talking about?" Aria asked. She looked at me like I was crazy and shook her head.

"Remind me when we get home to make you watch that movie," I replied, putting my arm around her shoulder and leading her towards the others. We didn't have anything to bring with us, so we would just help the others pack up. As we got over to them, I got a few strange looks, but Jack, Imam, and his boys welcomed me. Fry didn't seem to care either way, but she was watching Riddick move some stuff around. If I didn't know any better, I could have sworn I saw her check out his butt when he bent over to pick something up. And what a nice butt it was.


	7. Chapter 7

We had gathered everything we needed, Imam and his boys were carrying some strange metal thing that looked a lot like a giant screw, but Fry told me it was really a power cell. There was a sled full of a bunch of random crap, most of it was Paris's stuff, and Paris himself was also carrying some booze. I was tying the stuff on the sled down when Shazza came up behind me.

"Look, I'm sorry for what I said, and for kicking you. I was- I was wrong," Shazza grit out with some difficulty.

I finished my knot and turned to look at her. "Nah, 's all good! You were in a bad place, and I know you were just emotional, but its not me you need to apologize to," I said, jerking my head towards Riddick when I said the last part. I walked past her, smacking her on the back as I left. But before I got too far, I shouted over my shoulder, "I mean it Shazza, you should apologize."

I'm fairly sure I heard some angry curse words after that, but I ignored it. I walked over to Aria, and after a last minute check to make sure we had everything, we set off. I now had first hand understanding of why traveling is done in montages in movies. It was long, boring, and most of all tiring. I constantly had to pull Aria into 'important' conversations so she wouldn't go frolicking over to Johns and follow him around like a lost puppy. Sadly, I had run out of things to discuss with her and I sighed while I watched her bound over to Johns with a stupid smile on her face. At least Shazza was over there too, so maybe I had nothing to worry about.

I was only slightly behind them, listening to -or should I say carefully monitoring?- their conversations. After a few minutes of boring conversation, Shazza finally said something worth listening to. "So, just snap your fingers and he's one of us now?" she questioned Johns.

He looked over at her and responded, "I didn't say that, at least this way I don't have to worry about y'all, ah, falling asleep and not wakin' up."

Jack walked over to them, breathing from one of the air things, and asked, "So I can talk to him now?"

"No!" they said in unison. Jack hung his head but kept walking, while I slowed down until I reached the very back. The caboose to our train, choo-choo.

I walked next to Riddick, watching him pull the sled, it's rope pulled across his broad chest. "So what's the deal with you and Johns, he sure doesn't act like a police officer."

"He's not," was all he said. There was no in-depth explanation or tearful, heartfelt confession, just 'He's not'. I guess I really shouldn't have expected more, he does seem more like the 'man of few words' type, or whatever. I huffed in aggravation.

"What is he then?" I pressed. Riddick looked at me, and I looked at him. I pleaded for answers with my eyes, but he still didn't say anything. "Oh, come on! Its not like it really matters if I know!" I gasped. "Unless Johns is some ultra creepy stalker who follows you from galaxy to galaxy, hoping one day you will return his love." I could have sworn I saw the tiniest of smiles, like a fraction of a millimeter smile. "If I have to keep up this one-sided conversation then I'm gonna think he really does love you. It would explain a lot, and I would have a reason to keep Aria away from him."

"He's a merc, tryin' to take me to some slam for the pay. He's just a greedy bastard," Riddick explained. I felt like there was a lot more between the two, but this was probably all I'd get out of him. I was really grateful for just this little bit of info, but I don't know what a merc is. It sounds like a short version of mercenary, and that would definitely work in the context of our conversation. They must be like bounty hunters, taking people to jail, or a slam, for the payday. The way Riddck said it made me think that they were bad people, but maybe they were just not well liked in the criminal community.

"Why'd you stand up for me anyway?" I looked over at Riddick in surprise, that was unexpected. He continued on walking as if he hadn't just said something totally contrary to the person I thought he was.

I cleared my throat, trying to find a way to explain the impulse and then the strange confidence in his innocence. "Ah, that's a tough one to explain. I dunno, my instincts just screamed for me to help you, I guess. Just the thought of them hurting you sent me into a panic, and I don't even know you! Its like I could_ feel_ you were different from what they described you as, like they just didn't_ understand_," I finished. I was looking intently at my hands, afraid I would see him laughing at me when I looked up. I pushed through the fear and my gaze met his, and I felt this inexplicable pull towards him. My heart fluttered and I thought that maybe, just maybe, we were having a moment. And then Paris ruined it.

He had dropped one of his precious alcoholic beverages and turned around to retrieve it. Riddick stooped to pick it up, grabbing the bottle just as Paris was about to grab it. Paris looked absolutely petrified, but quickly shook himself, standing up with Riddick and wiping his hand on his robes. "Paris P. Ogilvie, antiquities dealer, entrepreneur," he introduced himself, reaching his hand out for a handshake.

Riddick smiled and took his hand, "Richard B. Riddick, escaped convict, murderer." He then proceeded to open the bottle and bring it up to his lips.

"That-that's a particularly good sharaz, its a lovely drop," Paris stuttered out. Riddick began to chug the drink and Paris protested, "It-its very expensive." But Riddick continued to drink it. Paris sighed in resignation, "By all means, help yourself."

I couldn't hold my mirth any longer, and I giggled as Paris retreated in fear. "Good to see you have a sense of humor, Richard!" I exclaimed. Riddick threw the now empty bottle onto the ground and kept on moving

"At least my name is better than Chara."

It took me a moment to figure out how he knew my name, but I guessed that Aria probably called out to me sometime. I shrugged my shoulders and responded with, "That's true, but it makes me _special_." I laughed and walked over to Aria, dragging her away from Johns with a parting snarl at him.

We walked for another long way, but now my mind was occupied with thoughts of a certain well toned someone. I admit he is very attractive, but he also has this natural charm about him. He seemed like a leader, someone people looked to in times of need and uncertainty, and I'm sure that if he didn't have a criminal background, and was less intimidating, he could be a politician. Of course all politicians have their heads up their butts, but Riddick does have that natural charisma that would swing voters.

Now you may be wondering why I was thinking of elections, and that is simple, I'm trying to distract my mind from how indubitably hot he is. Like just thinking about him was enough for my cheeks to flush. It was a miracle that I could hold myself together last time I talked to him, instead of melting into a bubbling pile of attractive goo. Yes, I would be attractive goo. I was really in trouble here, to have a stupid schoolgirl crush on Riddick, Riddick of all people!

All those years in highschool, and I was never attracted to anyone, no one at all, and Riddick just looks at me and suddenly my heart realises how to overrun all rational thought with romantic ones. My head was this big mess of deep, dark, unknown right now, and I couldn't believe I even thought we had a moment. What was I, stupid? We probably didn't even make eyes contact, but I couldn't tell because of those damned goggles. I didn't even know what color his eyes were!

I pulled Aria behind everyone, as far behind Riddick as I thought was necessary. She gave me a questioning look, but I couldn't form the words to ask her. I probably looked like a gaping fish, my mouth opening and closing in indecision. She finally became fed up and yelled at me, "Spit it out! What?"

"I totally think I like Riddick," I mumbled out as fast as I could. She didn't seem to catch it and just looked at me like I had grown two heads.

"I'm sorry?"

"I SAID, I think I might, y'know, possibly, um, like Riddick?" I said, blushing madly. Her eyes said I just grew a third head, and now she was impersonating sea life. "Oh, don't look at me like that!"

"Are you serious?" she asked incredulous.

"Well, I don't know! Maybe! You know I'm not good with stuff like this!" I exclaimed, trying to keep my voice low. My arms were flailing about, and my face was as red as a tomato. I looked over at Riddick to see him staring at us, and I swear to God I saw a smirk. I really hoped that it was because I looked like an idiot, and not because he heard me. I forced Aria a bit farther back, just in case, but if he did hear then the damage was already done.

"Dude! Why couldn't you like all the guys I introduced to you, or the ones that always ask for your number, why the mentally unstable murderer?"

"I don't know, they just never really caught my attention," I said, my voice drifting off at the end. I really hoped she would get over her aversion to the idea soon so she could actually help me.

"If they robbed a bank and killed the teller would you be interested?" she asked sarcastically. She threw her hands up and huffed in annoyance. "Seriously Chara! You may be all street-smart and all that crap, but you have horrible taste."

"Hey! Coming from the girl who follows Johns around like a lost puppy!" It was her turn to blush, and it seemed we were at a stalemate.

After a while she finally responded, "Alright fine, we both have awful taste in men, happy now?" I nodded my head and she continued, "You obviously told me this because you know I have more experience in the dating world then you do."

"I have no previous dating experience," I butted in.

She glared at me for the interruption, but kept going. "I know. What I don't know, is what you want, 'cuz to be honest with you, he doesn't seem the relationship type."

"I just-I just want to know how to keep my emotions in check so I don't make a total ass of myself in front of him. I just want to know how you have so much self control, that way I can act normal, and when we get home I'll finally try dating one of the guys you always introduce me to."

Aria squealed in delight and hugged me. "Really?" Her eyes sparkled with hope and I nodded my head, unaware of the danger I probably just put myself in. "Good, because you really do need a boyfriend, and if me teaching you how to ignore your girlish fantasies will finally make me a godmother, then I will teach you everything I know."

Aria proceeded to tell me all of the secrets of being a cold and distant lady, and I absorbed it all like a dry sponge. She gave examples and questioned me on how I should react in certain situations, I guess all she was missing was a final exam. She taught me all she could, and soon I was confidant I had mastered the art being a cold-hearted bitch, that was until I looked over at Riddick and became a pile of goo again. I am in some serious trouble.

**I really have a lot of trouble trying to keep Riddick in character! It takes me forever to think of how he would respond, what he would say, and if any of you have any tips, they would be SUPER welcome! Please review!**


	8. Chapter 8

As soon as we got back to the abandoned city, everyone wanted to check out our new 'lifeboat'. Fry was inside it once again, taking note of all the damaged and worn out parts, and Johns was just outside of it, drinking. Shazza was inspecting the outside hull, and Jack went into it, following Fry. Paris was examining the thing, walking around it and turning his nose up at the aged spacecraft. "Well normally I can appreciate antiques, but this," he paused, pointing at the ship. "This is something else."

"It'll work," Johns stated, taking a swig from his bottle.

Fry walked out from the inside of the ship, Jack following behind her. "There's nothing we can't fix, as long as the electrical adapts," she said, squatting by the power cell. She was fiddling with some of the wires in it, and I was curious as to how the power cell works.

Shazza looked over the ship once more and commented, "Well, she's not a star jumper."

Aria looked over at me and mouthed, "Star jumper?" I just shook my head and shrugged my shoulders. It sounded like what they say in _Battlestar Galactica_ before they go forward a long ways, or jump, as they called it. Whatever it was, I hoped we would find out soon so we could get off this glorified rock.

"It doesn't need to be," Riddick said, catching everyone's attention as he stood a ways away from the group. "Take a two-seater like this up to the Sol-track shipping lanes, stick out a thumb, bound to get picked up." He turned and looked directly at Fry and asked, "Ain't that right, Captain?"

Fry and Johns exchanged a look, but it seemed as though no one else noticed it, simply resuming their previous activities. Fry was still by the power cell, and she looked a Johns asking, "Can I have a little help here?"

Riddick stepped forward to help, his hands clasped behind his back, but as he approached, Paris decided to become useful. Paris helped Fry drag the cell into the ship, Jack hovering around them in case they needed him. "I got it, I got it," Paris said, but he really wasn't doing much work.

Johns saw Riddick walk up, and stepped in his way, rubbing his chin. "Do me a favor," he said, pointing his chin out in the distance. "Check those containers out, and ah, see what we can patch these wings up with." Johns stared at the wings, his mouth hanging open, before he turned to look at Riddick. Riddick didn't respond, only stared at Johns, who then asked, "Huh?"

They were locked in a staring contest for a while, but eventually Riddick conceded and walked off. Johns had a smug look on his face, and I felt really tempted to pop him in the jaw. I glared at him as Aria and I passed him, heading into the baby ship. It was a little dark in here, but the shade was a welcome relief from the constant sunshine. Fry and Jack looked up at us when we entered, and Paris left.

I stood there awkwardly, scratching the back of my neck and asking, "Is there anything I could help you guys with?"

Jack smiled at me reassuringly, like he knew how hard it was for me to talk to the others, but it was Fry who spoke, "No, you can go explore with everyone else, all I have to do is a bunch of electrical stuff."

"Oh, okay," I said lamely. "Look, I'm sorry if I offended you or whatever before, but I hope you understand why I did what I did."

Aria patted my shoulder and walked outside, and I turned to follow her. I heard Fry respond to me as I was leaving, "You were just standing up for what you believed in, no harm done." I nodded my head and kept walking, wanting to hang out with Aria but she was busy looking for Johns.

I found this building that looked mainly residential. There was dust everywhere, but the building looked mostly intact. There was a shelf of toys, and I lazily gazed at them. There was a tank, a few space shuttle like ones, ones that looked like the baby ship, and a few reptiles. A big metal fridge was against one wall, and a counter with what looked like a sink. There were no light switches, but there were quite a few windows that let in a decent amount of light. I wandered down a hallway, seeing one room with a double bed and a closet, the other with a single bed and toys littering the floor. I also found a bathroom at the end of the hall, but the plumbing was very strange. I guess if I needed to pee I could figure it out, but I think I would actually be more comfortable peeing behind a bush.

I worked my way back to the kitchen and suddenly realized that I haven't eaten anything in a long time. In fact, Aria and myself hadn't even had supper yet when the storm started. My stomach rumbled at the thought of food, and I made my way towards the kitchen. Going to the fridge would be stupid, seeing as though I didn't know how long this place has been abandoned, but by the looks of things everything would have been spoilt. I looked through the cupboards beneath the counter and found a whole lot of pots and pans, but no food.

I looked around the room, seeing a pantry and a few upper cupboards crammed into a corner. I walked over to the pantry first, seeing as though most people keep canned food in the pantry, but all I found were some crackers and a bunch of ripped open bags of dried food. I decided I probably shouldn't trust the opened bags, but I took the crackers. I reached up and tried to open the cupboard, but the stupid thing was stuck. I yanked on it, hit it, and eventually got so frustrated I wrapped some cloth around my hand and punched a hole in the thin wood. Inside was exactly what I was looking for.

There were four cans inside, two were peaches, one was cherries, and the other was spam. I pulled all of it out and placed them on the table, carefully deciding my next move. I could be a pig and eat them all myself, or I could share with Aria like a good best friend would. I could also tell everyone and divide it all equally among us, but I really wasn't about to sacrifice my hard-won food to feed everyone. Yeah, that's pretty low of me, but I take care of my own.

Now the problem really is, how can I make sure no one else finds out I have food? I could give some to a select few people. Gaining allies who would hopefully become useful later, but who? Two of the cans were obviously for me and Aria, and I kinda liked that Jack kid too, so maybe one for him. But who would I most want as my ally? Riddick immediately came to mind, but I shook that thought away. I don't trust Johns, so he's out, and I don't have enough to feed Imam and his children. Shazza already hates me, even though she was the one in the wrong, so giving it to her would be a wasted effort. Fry could be a very good person to associate with, but she would most likely try and evenly distribute the food.

And so that really just left one person. I have no doubt in my mind that befriending him was a wild gamble. He is the one to most likely get off this planet, but would he take us with him? And if he doesn't leave here, I may make too many enemies to get away scott-free.

Alright fine, Riddick wins! I would give Aria, Jack, and Riddick a can, then give Imam the crackers. I couldn't not include him, especially when he has three boys with him. Hes a nice guy, I like him, so I could at least give him crackers to share with the boys.

I found Aria first, pulling her away from playing around with some solar powered toys. I told her to just follow me without any questions and she agreed reluctantly. We went off to find Jack, spotting him creeping up behind Riddick. I pulled him away and lead the two of them into the little house I found. They both sat down and stared at me with questioning eyes.

"So heres the deal, I found a little smidgen of food, and I'm giving you two some of it," I said. Jack jumped up to take a can I pulled out but I held it away from her. "But there's a catch." Jacks smile disappeared and he sat down. " You cannot, and I mean cannot, tell anyone you got these okay? I only found a few, and not enough for everybody, so I don't want any trouble for giving it to those who I think, uh, need it most. You got that?"

They both nodded their heads vigorously and snatched the two cans away from me. I laughed as they struggled to get into the cans before I drew the knife from my bra and cut open the cans. They both ate like wild animals, and I couldn't help but smile at their mannerless behavior. I gave them one last parting look before I headed out to find Imam.

He was sitting by the solar well this when I approached him, working with some of the wires. I sat down next to him and cleared my throat. He looked up and me and smiled before saying, "Ah, Chara. To what do I owe this pleasure?"

"I have something for you and your boys, but you mustn't tell the other about it."

He looked at me apprehensively before asking, "What is it?"

"Some food, but not enough for everyone. Here," I said, handing him the large bag of crackers. "They may not be the best with this dryness and heat, but I figured with our new-found water and everything, it would be better than nothing."

He graciously took the bag, giving me a smile as he did so. "Thank you, my child."

And now I had to find Riddick. He wasn't an easy one to track down, but eventually my roaming eyes spotted him across the camp. I ran over to where I saw him, but he had disappeared. I looked around frantically, trying to see where he ran off to, but like every horror movie character ever created, I never thought to look up.

"Miss me?" a deep gravely voice questioned. My head shot towards the sound, and I saw Riddick crouching on the roof of a building a few feet away from me.

For a moment I forgot why I was there, and I just smiled at him. But I quickly remembered and fought a blush away. "Not really, but I do have something for you," I said, proud my voice didn't shake or crack.

"Really?" he asked, jumping down from the roof and landing completely silent. He stalked over to me like a predator to prey, and I started getting nervous. "Like what?" He purred. A tingle went down my spine at his stupid attractive voice.

I took a step back from his approaching figure and held out the last two cans, "I, ah, found some food and thought I'd share. I'll give you the choice of spam or cherry."

He paused in his stride for just a second, and I could have sworn I saw surprise flash across his face, but he kept coming towards me. Once he got real close he circled me, and I stood stock still, impersonating a dear in headlights. He stood behind me and smelt my neck, and for some reason it didn't totally weird me out. It felt _natural_.

"Hm, you smell different," he stated, running his nose along the side of my neck. I just stood there, unsure of what to do, his light breathing on my neck tickled, and I squirmed a bit.

"Well, I haven't showered in a while... so, yeah," I finished lamely. I was so happy that my voice sounded even remotely normal! Maybe I could pretend to be unfazed by his strange acts, but his deep rumbling laughter shattered all hopes of acting normal.

"You almost smell like, well almost like me," he said, finally backing away from me. "How interesting." He took a can and when I turned around, he was gone.

I thought about what had just happened, and my heart kicked it up a few notches and my cheeks burned in embarrassment. Distantly I noticed he took the spam, and was grateful for that because spam is disgustingly, even though it is healthy. I thought over the conversation again and again, cursing myself for not using Ducky's line from_ A Land Before Time_. It would have been the perfect time to say, 'You smell me?' But nooooo! I just had to get flustered and lose my witty charms and movie references.

I was silently cursing the cruel fates for making me so funny and attractive, but stealing away all of my charms in the presence of an attractive man, when I almost committed violent murder right where I was.

Johns held Jack up by his shirt and was yelling in his face. Demanding to know where he got the food, and why he didn't share. Jack looked so scared, and I hated myself for putting him in this situation. Johns raised his fist, and it didn't look like there was anyone around to help him as Jack whimpered in fear. Jack caught sight of me and pleaded for help with his eyes. Johns followed his gaze and saw me, still holding a can of food.

"You little bitch!"

**Alrighty! I am being forced to have this thing called a life, and so I will be on vacation, without internet, for two weeks. So, I'm super sorry but I won't be updating for awhile! I just thought I'd leave you all with a cliff hanger, so that maybe you'll stay interested while I'm gone... Please stay interested! Anyway, please review!**


	9. Chapter 9

Yay! I hope the wait wasn't too long! This is my first ever fight scene so I hope it doesn't suck too badly...

Jack clutched at Johns hands, trying to pry them off of him, but Johns just threw him to the side and stalked towards me. Jack landed in a heap on the sand and rubbed his throat, but otherwise looked fine. He was a little shook up, but at least he wasn't hurt. Meanwhile, I crammed the can of cherries into my back pocket and waved my hands in front of me.

"Hey, Johns! What's up?" I said, trying to sound normal, but my voice shook a little as I spoke. Of course there were moments when I dreamed of hurting Johns with my bare fists, but right now I wasn't so sure the odds were in my favor. Johns didn't look normal, he was sweating profusely, and not even this heat could make that much gross sweat normal. His hands were shaky and one of his eyes twitched, but worst of all was the crazy look in his eyes. "Is something wrong? You don't look so good."

"Oh, somethings wrong," he snarled, glaring at me. "Its you, you've been causin' trouble since ya showed up! But this-" He pulled an empty can from somewhere behind him and flung it at me. "-this is the last straw!" He face was red with anger, and his somewhat handsome features contorted with rage.

Johns ran at me, so I took my father's age old advice, and swung first. My fist hit nothing but air, and a sharp pain in my gut told me that Johns dodged and retaliated with an elbow to my abdomen. I whirled around and narrowly missed a fist meant for my face. I threw my leg up and tried to kick Johns in the side, but he grabbed my leg and threw me to the ground.

I scrambled quickly and tried to stand, digging my hands in the hot sand for leverage. I heard Jack call out for me, but it was too late. Johns hit me in the side with his boot, kicking me once, twice, and a third time until something stopped him. I looked up to see Jack trying desperately to hold Johns back, and my heart swelled at the act. I stood up shakily and gingerly touched my belly. It hurt like nothing before, but I've taken many hits in the past. Nothing of this magnitude or power, but I have a reasonably good tolerance for pain.

Johns broke free from Jack's grip and turned towards the boy. I ran over to them and placed my body between Jack and Johns, trying to shield Jack. "Run! Don't even look back, just go!" I shouted over my shoulder. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Jack hesitate, and I was about to yell for him to go again, but Johns took my distraction as an opportunity.

Johns threw an uppercut that caught in my right cheek, and pain exploded from the contact. I stumbled backwards but quickly regained my footing. I put my hands up and bounced on the balls of my feet in anticipation. Johns was clearly more experienced than I am, so my best bet was going defensive until he tired out. I focused and readied myself as best as I could, and waited for Johns' next move.

He came at me with his fist raised, and I knocked his attack away and returned it with one of my own. I felt pide engulf me as I saw my knuckles make contact with his cheek. It was almost the exact same spot he hit me in, just slightly higher and closer to his eye. I smirked and watched as he took a step back.

He yelled a number of obscenities, mainly insulting me and my mother. I continued to bounce around like a giddy child, but I was careful not to let his one slip-up go to my head. Johns sent a flurry of punches and kicks, and I bobbed and weaved as best I could but I couldn't avoid them all. I took several to the face, and two or three to my gut. I could tell he was slowly tiring, but not as fast as I was. In a last ditch effort, I kneed him in the groin.

He groaned loudly, and clutched himself as he bent at the waist. "You're gonna get it now, whore!" he stood up, and with a slight limp in his step he ran at me. I threw up my defences and he fainted a punch, instead he kicked me in the knee, causing my legs to buckle. I fell to the ground and rolled away as Johns meant to stomp on me. He tried again, but this time I grabbed his leg and yanked him to the ground. We grappled for a moment until I reached around and got him in a chokehold. I squeezed tight and tried to cut off the blood flow to his tiny, insignificant brain. I held on a best I could as Johns tried to throw me off, but he jabbed me in my bruise with his elbow and I let go in surprise.

Johns quickly got up and kicked me._ 'I guess Johns likes to kick 'em when they're down,'_ I thought to myself as my beating continued. I couldn't get away, and I couldn't block him so I curled up and tried to protect my neck. I lost track of how many times he hit me, and I tried to stay focused when my mind went fuzzy. Black spots dotted my vision, and my muscles relaxed as I lost consciousness. I thought I saw Jack running towards me, but it was all so blurry I couldn't quite make him out. I even almost missed the large figure behind him, but as I tried to focus on them everything went black.

_I shot up from my position on the ground and looked around me. I felt no pain, no fatigue, no sense that I was just in a fight. There was no Johns around me, nothing but rows upon rows of gravestones. The familiar jagged mountains, and the dead tree, even the crumbled wall in the distance. My shoulders slouched as the tension poured out of my body, I was in my dream._

_I walked over to the same gravestone I touched last time, and yet again I ran my hand over its rough surface. The words were still not visible, and moss and dirt still covered it, but I couldn't help feeling like I was connected to it._

_A hand on my shoulder caused all of my previous abuse to come rushing back. I spun around and swung wildly at whatever was behind me, but a hand had caught my fist. I followed the hand to an arm, and up until I saw the face of the strange woman who was always here. She patted my hand lightly before releasing it, and I let it fall to my side. "Relax, you are safe here," she whispered, she always whispered._

_"That's nice, I guess," I shrugged and stood awkwardly, not sure what I was supposed to do. She didn't respond, just watched me and smiled lightly. My mind wandered back to the fight and I worried about not only myself, but Jack and Aria as well. I was probably in horrible condition and would wake soon feeling like I got hit by a semi, but I just hoped that I wasn't dead, this would be a sucky afterlife. And besides, who would make Aria watch movies instead of study or practice piano if I'm gone?_

_"Do not worry, he has taken care of you," the woman said, breaking through my thoughts. My face must have portrayed my puzzlement, for she laughed lightly. "He has rescued you and brought you to safety, so do not worry child."_

_"Who are you?" I questioned. My voice seemed too loud in this quiet place, and I heard the echo rebound off of the surrounding mountains. "You always leave before you answer my questions."_

_"I am Shira."_

_"Just Shira? Nothing else?"_

_"Yes, just Shira."_

_I wanted to yell in frustration, why is she so dodgy? At least I know her name now, instead of just referring to her as 'that one lady in my dreams'. Might as well try to get as many answers from her as possible now that she decided to talk to me. "Who is he?"_

_"You will figure that out soon, and on your own."_

_"Alright, where am I?"_

_"A place you should be glad not to know."_

_"Argh! Fine, at least answer this last question!" I yelled in anger. I knew what I wanted to ask, but I was afraid of the answer. I feared the truth, and I had no doubts she knew. In a quiet voice I asked the one question I only ever pondered in the dark recesses of my mind. "Who am I?"_

_Shira smiled kindly at me, touching my shoulder and staring deep into my eyes. "You are someone important. Your destiny will be revealed to you in time, and the mysteries of your past are something you must discover yourself. Just remember, you are more important than you could ever understand."_

_I watched her uncertainly, my inner self doubt rising above the surface of all my buried emotions. I don't care about all this destiny crap! I just want to know who my birth parents were, and why they left me on some stranger's porch. What was so horribly wrong with me? Was I unwanted, was I not what they had hoped for? Silent tears streamed down my face and landed in the dirt. They left hot trails on my face, and a cold feeling in my heart. Was I worthless to them?_

_"It is time to wake up," Shira said. I just remembered she was there. I rubbed at my eyes, trying to forget those nasty thoughts that would only make me depressed. I looked at Shira and she smiled before walking away again. Her cape fluttering in the non existent wind, her strides slow and graceful._

_I watched her walk away, not wanting to run after her, not caring to hear more. She disappeared among the gravestones and all was silent. I sat down by the gravestone and leaned against it. The cool surface felt nice against my back, and I tried not to think of anything. I'm not sure I wanted to wake up, maybe this place wouldn't be so bad for an eternity. I could just stay here, and no longer worry about anything, because nothing would matter here if I never had to wake up._

_An unusual breeze flowed from behind me, and my hair stirred around me. A soft whisper was spoken into my ear, the words not unclear or vague, just quiet. "Wake up!"_

**Alrighty then, it's short, but I thought that that would be a good place to stop. Please, please, PLEASE review! I love it when you do!**


	10. Chapter 10

**I'm back baby! (I was debating starting with "I'm back b!tches!", but I feared this would insult all you wonderful people). I finally got over it, that dreadfully horrible thing that blocked up my creative flow, the writers block. I apologize to all of you, and I hope to all that is good in the world that I got all that blockage out of my figurative bowels. I love all of you soooooo much! *teardrops***

I woke up with pain burning through every part of my body. A pitiful groan escaped my lips as I tried to sit up, my abs burning with effort. I rubbed my eyes and looked around. I was in a small bedroom, laying on an old ratty bed. What looked to be a very old blanket was draped across me, and as my eyes adjusted to the bright light I saw the door swing shut. I looked at it curiously before a soft mumble drew my attention to Aria, who was currently laying on my bed, asleep.

Her eyebrows were squished together and she looked like she was scowling. Her head was resting on her arms, looking uncomfortable in her seat. She was bent, practically in half, her butt seated firmly on a chair but her upper half resting beside me. Her golden hair was snarled and messy, falling all over her face but I couldn't help but smile. A light snore came from her and I laughed, a loud, raspy sound that scared her awake.

Her head shot up and she looked around quickly, her hair whipping about her face. I laughed harder at her confused expression, the action causing my ribs great pain. Soon my giggles turned to coughs, violent and painful. I lifted my hand to cover my mouth, turning away from Aria to shield her from my germs. Once my fit was over I looked back at her to see her staring at me with a worried expression.

"You okay?" she asked tentatively. Her brow was furrowed in worry and she looked like she had while she slept. Her blue eyes were searching my face and she twiddled her thumbs.

I smiled at her as best as I could, reaching out and ruffling her hair despite my sore arm. "I feel like I just went a round at fight club, but I couldn't tell you about it if I did," I replied. My voice sounded like I had been a smoker for the past forty years and my throat felt like I was inhaling fire instead of air.

Aria let out a small giggle, more so out of relief than humor. "Why not?"

"First rule of fight club; you do not talk about fight club."

"Oh, really? And what's the second rule?"

"You DO NOT talk about fight club."

Aria was quiet as she stared at me, "You said that already." I shrugged my shoulders in response. She looked like she was about to say something but stopped. I nudged her and waved my hands in a grand manner to try and lure whatever she was saying out of her. She finally gave in and took a deep breath. "What happened?"

"I got my ass whooped."

"I'm serious Chara! Jack couldn't tell me much, and when Riddick walks in carrying you, Jesus Chara! I was so worried about you!" she exploded. Aria stood up, running her hand through her hair and pacing. "Why would you fight him? You may be good, but that was reckless! Look at you!" she cried, pointing at my body.

I looked down at myself, noting the loose bandages and the ugly bruises. From the limited vision in one of my eyes I could safely guess that it was pretty swollen. I would bet a large sum of money that I looked god-awful. "You know me, I can't just stand by and watch as someone else gets hurt."

"I know, and I love how brave you are, but Chara, I thought I lost you," she whispered, falling into the chair and hiding her face in her hands.

I reached forward and winced. I glanced at my ribs before pushing through the pain and wrapping my arms around Aria in a tight embrace. I felt her shudder and I wondered if she was crying. "Shh, it's okay Aria. See, I'm okay," I murmured softly to her, rubbing her back in soothing circles. I pulled back and watched her wipe furiously at her eyes. "Now if you wouldn't mind, I'm really thirsty."

Aria smiled and nodded, scurrying out of the room in search of water. Another set of coughs attacked me, making my whole body shake as I tried to hack up whatever it was that was bothering me. I felt something warm hit my hand and I pulled it away from covering my mouth to inspect it. To my dismay I saw blood in my palm. My face scrunched up in confusion but I brushed it off as unimportant.

I noticed a niggling sensation in the back of my mind, almost like paranoia. It felt like someone was watching me, but I couldn't be sure. I looked around the room again, searching for anything out of place but found none. I brushed of the lingering feeling and inverted my attentions.

I thought back to my dream, or was it a vision? I learned that the lady's name is Shira, so at least I know what to call her now. Most of her answers were cryptic, the type you hear in the beginning of a movie and then at the end go: 'Oh! That's what they meant!' But something she said really caught my attention. _He has rescued you._ Who saved me? I knew that Jack isn't strong enough, and Aria is a girl, so was it Inman or one of his boys? The thought that maybe it was Riddick crossed my mind, but I quickly pushed it away. Why would he save me anyway? Aria did say something about him carrying me somewhere, but maybe that was because I was too heavy for everyone else. I kind of wanted it to be Riddick who saved me, but that was stupid and girlish so I crushed that hope before it could take root.

Shira also said that I am important. I snorted at the thought of that, me being important. My subconscious must be very narcissistic to think that I would be someone that is necessary. My head dipped down and my hair covered my face as tears slowly trickled down my cheeks. Why would I ever be important, I'm just the girl who fades into the background. Aria always commanded the attention, and I am okay with just playing the backstage support. My heart felt like it was being squeezed in my chest and I wondered if it was from my injuries or my thoughts. I wiped the blood from my hand on my pants and rubbed my eyes.

I took a deep, calming breath and decided to check out my injuries. I poked at my ribs, gasping in pain when I hit a rib that I assumed was either severely bruised or broken. I had at least a dozen tiny cuts and scrapes scattered around me, only two major cuts, and a crap-ton of bruises. I slumped back onto the bed and closed my eyes. I started humming one of my favorite songs as I waited for Aria to come back. I felt a stray tear escape me and I cursed myself for being so weak. I may not be important, but I am most certainly not weak.

Aria walked back in holding a strange canteen, slamming the door on her way in. I eyed her in confusion, debating whether or not the door was a fluke or if she really is angry. "Aria?" I questioned. She looked at me and thrust the canteen in my hands. I drank from it greedily, but I also watched her out of the corner of my eye. "What's up, buttercup?"

"Johns is a prick," she replied dryly, glaring at the wall behind me.

"I was under the assumption this was common knowledge." When she didn't reply I tried again, "What did he do now?"

"Did you know he had morphine this whole time? He's hoarding a whole bunch of it." I stared at her in surprise. Him being a junkie would certainly explain a few things, but I don't really understand why Aria was so upset.

"And?"

"You could have used some!" she exclaimed. "While you were in pain because of him, he just sat on those pain killers and didn't even think about sharing! The only reason I know he has them is because I was looking for a canteen and got curious."

"So you were snooping."

"Basically, yes."

"Aria, that's a big no-no," I tsked, wagging my finger at her. Aria smacked my arm and gave me a look that said, _Be serious_. It stung where she stuck me, probably hitting a bruise, but I tried to not let her see that. "Alright, alright, so the dude has some morphine, and so I could have used some. There is no use getting angry over it now, I wouldn't have accepted it anyway, I'm still licking my wounds from the last round with him. My pride could not take a hit like taking painkillers from the cause of my pain."

"You're such a doofus," Aria sighed. She grumpily sat herself onto the chair at my bed side, crossing her arms over her chest and pouting.

"And you're such a drama queen. Have you thought about a future in Broadway?" Aria mumbled something and turned away from me, her upset aurora growing darker. "Hey now, no being so depressing while nursing me back to health. Jeez, you have awful bedside manners, don't you?"

"I'll have you know I have wonderful bedside manners! It's just kinda hard when you got big, scary Riddick hanging around all the time!"

_"What?"_

"Oh you don't know? I suppose you were unconscious for three days." I must have looked like I was about to interrupt because she made a silencing hand motion. "He's been hanging around, not really saying anything, just standing in the corner brooding. He was actually here before I fell asleep, I wonder when he left?"

I stared at her blankly for a long time. I had no retort for that, no sassy remark displaying my adorable sense of humor. I was literally speechless. I could understand him maybe being a little, tinsy bit concerned, but not to the point he would actually hang around. Did I look like I was dying? Was that why he was here, to see if I passed on in my sleep? I was about to ponder this on a more deep and concentrated level when Aria interrupted me.

"So, what really happened?"

**How was it? Everything you ever dreamed of and more? Did my peeps stay in character? Did you love it, hate it? Please review! Again, I'm sorry for my tardiness...**


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